UB promotes a technology to guarantee data integrity and traceability in critical infrastructures
The integrity of the data collected by sensors that monitor critical infrastructures such as bridges, dams or roads is a key element for managing their maintenance and assessing potential failures.
Researchers from the University of Barcelona (UB) are collaborating with the company Worldsensing in a new public–private consortium to develop a technological solution that guarantees the integrity and traceability of this information, protecting it from manipulation and enabling full auditing from the origin of the data to its final use.
“The project develops an integrated tool based on the open RISC-V architecture that will not only capture and transmit information to determine the status of essential infrastructures, but will also ensure that the data are verifiable and have not been altered,” explains Ángel Diéguez Barrientos, Full Professor at the Department of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering of the Faculty of Physics, who leads the UB’s participation in the project.
Currently, the collection of data from critical infrastructures is carried out through systems that offer continuous monitoring but “often present limitations in traceability and auditability, as well as dependence on manual processes,” says the researcher.
The project develops a new generation of IoT node (Internet of Things), an intelligent electronic device connected to the network that integrates sensors, processing capacity and communication systems to capture environmental data, with verifiable authentication and data integrity.
The technological core is a System on Chip (SoC) that integrates the essential blocks of the device —processor, memory and communication interfaces— into a single microchip, which reduces size and power consumption while improving performance. In this project, the SoC will incorporate hardware cryptographic accelerators and authentication mechanisms, ensuring that the data remain protected and verifiable from their origin.
Open-source architecture and low power consumption
The SoC is based on the open-source RISC-V architecture, a technology that allows flexible and customizable hardware design. One of its main advantages is its ability to operate with very low energy consumption, a key feature in IoT applications where devices must function for long periods without maintenance.
“The high energy efficiency of the IoT node will reduce the need for frequent interventions, allowing operational costs to be optimized and improving the sustainability of the system,” highlights Diéguez.
Security and traceability through blockchain
Beyond data capture and transmission, the system incorporates encryption and authentication mechanisms directly at the device level, together with an immutable and traceable record through blockchain technology at system level. This ensures that the information is protected against tampering and can be transparently audited.
“As with aircraft black boxes, the secure and immutable storage of infrastructure data is vital to later understand the causes of an accident and prevent future disasters,” notes the professor.
Industrial application and real-world validation
The solution will allow IoT device manufacturers to integrate this technology into their products as an affordable and efficient alternative to develop secure, low-power devices based on open hardware adaptable to different applications.
At the same time, managers of critical infrastructures will be able to improve the security and reliability of their systems thanks to devices equipped with the new technological solution, which guarantees secure and immutable data storage.
During the three-year project, the technology will be validated under real conditions through integration tests in different infrastructures.
“The goal is to evaluate both its performance and its ability to guarantee data security through encryption and authentication mechanisms, as well as its energy efficiency,” concludes the researcher.
The project, entitled “Development of an Integrated RISC-V-Based Platform for Secure Monitoring of Critical Infrastructures”, will run for three years and has the reference CPP2024-011612. The University of Barcelona has received €224,635 in funding within the framework of the 2024 call for public–private collaboration projects, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the State Research Agency and FEDER funds.
