This month, we made progress on four main types of tasks.

1. Software team: Exploring secure firmware update methods
2. Hardware team: Investigation of CPU specifications that are highly compatible with blockchain
3. Documentation team: Writing public documentation of project results
4. Event team: Preparation of lectures and exhibits for company-sponsored events

　The software team continued to work on the technical verification of "the activation of the private chain and each sensor" to be included in the project KPI from last month.

　In our solution, IoT edge devices collect sensor information that is supposed to work only with authenticated firmware. This purpose is to counteract possible malfunctions caused by hacking by malicious firmware, electrical noise, or other physical phenomena. 　 　There are various methods to address this issue, and we have procured and begun evaluating a device called secure flash memory. This device is designed primarily to store highly confidential data, such as encryption keys securely, and is equipped with many more security features than ordinary flash memory on the market. We want to utilize this device to realize an edge device infrastructure that can be securely updated and operated.

　The hardware team continued to work on the project's next phase, the realization of a custom SoC. In parallel with our investigation of general peripheral controllers, we began functional verification of TIMER, WDT, and PWM. Including these functions above are practically indispensable, as they are often used in embedded system development.

　The Documentation Team continues to prepare to publish the project's findings on the web as well-documented documents. We are working to improve and expand the documentation and are making final adjustments to make it available to the public.

　The event team has been working on the preparation of presentation materials and exhibits for a presentation to be given at an event hosted by a global semiconductor company early next month. This month, our team allocated significant resources to this task. 　Since many companies will be present at the event, we will try to do our part to promote the project and help raise Cardano's profile.

This month, the project made progress on three main types of tasks.

1. Software team: How to realize a secure device network other than TCP/IP
2. Hardware team: Investigation of CPU specifications that are highly compatible with blockchain
3. Documentation Team: Writing a public document of the project results

The software team continued to work on the technical validation of the "activation of the private chain and each sensor" to be included in the project KPI from last month.

Specifically, this month's work focused on verifying a non-TCP/IP solution for the secure network segment the device is configured to operate on.

In our proposed solution, IoT edge devices that collect sensor information transmit sensor data to a data storage server via an IoT Gateway. Communication specifications for IoT edge devices vary. For example, some support Linux capable of network communication. In contrast, others do not support TCP/IP network communication by default such as the Arduino UNO.

We have decided to prioritize Arduino UNO class devices in developing our proposed solution. We have tested methods other than TCP/IP for communication between IoT edge devices and IoT Gateways. Arduino UNO does not support TCP/IP network communication by default. We have been examining ways to communicate between IoT edge devices and IoT Gateways using methods other than TCP/IP.

The current candidates are RS-422/485 and CAN2.0. These communication standards are multi-drop rather than point-to-point, so multiple devices can be connected to the bus and communicate with each other. These devices also have advantages over Ethernet standards regarding communication distance, device cost, and CPU utilization. However, they are unsuitable for video streaming applications due to their lower communication speed.

Currently, we are testing the operation of the communication standard conversion program on the IoT Gateway. The essential process has been achieved, but there are still some processing problems, so we continue to work on implementation.

The hardware team continued to work on the project's next phase, the realization of a custom SoC. We evaluate the existing CPU IP cores using the procured FPGA board for SoC development. Currently, we are verifying UART, SPI, and I2C for peripheral controllers. These communication standards are expected in embedded systems, and many sensor devices support them. We will continue to check SPI and I2C operation.

The Documentation Team continues to prepare to publish the project's findings on the web as well-maintained documents. We are working to improve and expand the documentation and are making final adjustments for the release.

This time, the project made progress on three main types of tasks.

1. Software team : Technical verification of the function to store sensor data in a tamper-proof state
2. Hardware team : Procurement of a CPU development environment that is highly com patible with blockchain
3. Documentation Team : Writing public documents of project results The software team continued to work on the technical verification of "activation o f the private chain and each sensor" to be included in the project KPI. This month's specific work will be on encryption and authentication of inter-dev ice communication. In the solution we envision, only authorized IoT edge devices that collect sensor information will be able to join the proprietary network managed by the IoT Gatewa y and communicate with each other. We have conducted a technical verification of this functionality using gRPC's Cr edintial API. The server and client application were run on a Linux machine, and we were able to verify the operation of a simple authentication function. However, not all IoT edge devices have powerful CPUs and plenty of memory to run Linux. Our target devices are mainly RTOS or OS-less devices, so we need to carefu lly consider the amount of computation required by gRPC for encryption and authent ication. The hardware team continued to work on the next phase of the project, the implem entation of a custom SoC. The team received the FPGA board for SoC development tha t was procured last month and is currently evaluating the existing CPU IP cores. T he SoC we want to realize requires a high-speed cryptographic processor and a peri pheral controller for security communication, so we are working on design specific ations for these components. The Documentation Team continues to prepare to publish the findings of the proje ct on the web as well-designed documents. The acquisition of a dedicated domain na me and server operations have been coordinated, and the team is currently making final adjustments for the release of the documents.

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