Fail-safe over-the-air programming and error recovery in wireless networks

Wireless networks are an emerging technology which are employed for a growing number of applications. Maintenance and extensibility necessitate software updates after an initial deployment. Wireless updates are in most cases preferred, e.g. in large-scale networks or inaccessible deployments. Recent research either focused on reliable and fast transmission of a new firmware, or on a modular update of firmware parts. In this paper we additionally address the problem of error-prone software which can permanently disable the update functionality. A comprehensive and fail-safe update system is proposed fulfilling requirements for the usage in industrial environments.