Software Downloads in Trusted Zones with Wake-up Sensors for Connected Vehicles

The increasing use of software in connected vehicles requires an advanced security management for keeping software programs up to date. So-called Over-The-Air (OTA) services provide a well-known solution and allow the software management of entire fleets. In cellular networks such updates are initiated by sending Short Messaging Services (SMS) messages to the connected vehicle. However, when using alternative wireless networks, sending SMS messages becomes impractical. Additionally, SMS messages are transmitted with a minimum of data protection which inherits the thread of message manipulation. This paper proposes a novel way of shoulder-tapping the vehicle's OTA client by utilizing wireless Wake-Up Receiver (WUR) sensors enabling so-called OTA-On-Demand (OOD) in Wireless LANs (WLANs). The OOD system design is outlined and a prototype implementation is presented. It is shown that OOD improves vehicle safety and reduces cyberattack risks by defining trusted zones for secure vehicle software updates, thus resulting in increased level of data communication security.