'Azure Sphere is a secure, world-class application platform with built-in communication and security capabilities for Internet-connected devices- IoT. The platform consists of integrated hardware built around a secure

silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ...

chip, the ''Azure Sphere OS'' (

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

for Azure Sphere), a high-end operating system based on

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...

, and the Azure Sphere Security Service, a cloud-based security service that provides continuous, renewable security. Azure Sphere security was developed based on

Microsoft Research Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technolog ...

s position on the seven required characteristics of highly secure devices.

Azure Sphere OS

The Azure Sphere OS is a custom

-based microcontroller operating system created by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

to run on an Azure Sphere-certified chip and to connect to the Azure Sphere Security Service. The Azure Sphere OS provides a platform for

Internet of things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...

application development, including both high-level applications and real-time capable applications. It is the first operating system running a

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ...

that Microsoft has publicly released and the second Unix-like operating system that the company has developed for external (public) users, the other being

Xenix Xenix is a discontinued version of the Unix operating system for various microcomputer platforms, licensed by Microsoft from AT&T Corporation in the late 1970s. The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) later acquired exclusive rights to the software, ...

Azure Sphere Security Service

The Azure Sphere Security Service, sometimes referred to as AS3, is a cloud-based service that enables maintenance, updates, and control for Azure Sphere-certified chips. The Azure Sphere Security Service establishes a secure connection between devices and the internet and/or cloud services and ensures secure boot. The primary purpose of contact between an Azure Sphere device and the Azure Sphere Security Service is to authenticate the device identity, ensure the integrity and trust of the system software, and to certify that the device is running a trusted code base. The service also provides the secure channel used by Microsoft to automatically download and install Azure Sphere OS updates and customer application updates to deployed devices.

Azure Sphere chips and hardware

Azure Sphere-certified chips and hardware support two general implementation categories: greenfield and brownfield. Greenfield implementation involves designing and building new IoT devices with an Azure Sphere-certified chip. Azure Sphere-certified chips are currently produced by

MediaTek MediaTek Inc. () is a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company that provides chips for wireless communications, high-definition television, handheld mobile devices like smartphones and tablet computers, navigation systems, consumer multimedia ...

. In June 2019, NXP announced plans to produce a line of Azure Sphere-certified chips. In October 2019, Qualcomm announced plans to produce the first Azure Sphere-certified chips with cellular capabilities. Brownfield implementation involves the use of an Azure Sphere guardian device to securely connect an existing device to the internet. Azure Sphere guardian modules are currently produced by Avnet.

MediaTek 3620

MT3620 is the first Azure Sphere-certified chip and includes an ARM Cortex-A7 processor (500 MHz), two ARM Cortex-M4F I/O subsystems (200 MHz), 5x UART/I2C/SPI, 2x I2S, 8x ADC, up to 12 PWM counters and up to 72x GPIO, and Wi-Fi capability. MT3620 contains the Microsoft Pluton security subsystem with a dedicated ARM Cortext-M4F core that handles secure boot and secure system operation.

Azure Sphere hardware

Azure Sphere-certified chips can be purchased in several different hardware configurations produced by Microsoft partners. Modules * Avnet Wi-Fi Module * AI-Link Wi-Fi Module * USI Dual Band Wi-Fi Module Development kits * Avnet MT3620 Starter Kit * Seeed MT3620 Dev Board * Seeed MT3620 Mini Dev Board Guardian devices * Avnet Guardian Module

Azure Sphere Guardian module

An Azure Sphere Guardian module is external, add-on hardware that incorporates an Azure Sphere-certified chip and can be used to securely connect an existing device to the internet. In addition to an Azure-Sphere certified chip, an Azure Sphere Guardian module includes the Azure Sphere OS and the Azure Sphere Security Service. A guardian module is a method of implementing secure connectivity for existing devices without exposing those devices to the internet. The guardian module can be connected to a device through an existing peripheral on the device and is then connected to the internet through Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The device itself is not connected directly to the network.

Microsoft Pluton

Pluton is a Microsoft-designed security subsystem that implements a hardware-based root of trust for Azure Sphere. It includes a security processor core, cryptographic engines, a hardware

random number generator Random number generation is a process by which, often by means of a random number generator (RNG), a sequence of numbers or symbols that cannot be reasonably predicted better than by random chance is generated. This means that the particular outc ...

, public/private key generation, asymmetric and

symmetric encryption Symmetric-key algorithms are algorithms for cryptography that use the same cryptographic keys for both the encryption of plaintext and the decryption of ciphertext. The keys may be identical, or there may be a simple transformation to go between th ...

, support for

elliptic curve digital signature algorithm In cryptography, the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) offers a variant of the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) which uses elliptic-curve cryptography. Key and signature-size As with elliptic-curve cryptography in general, the b ...

(ECDSA) verification for secured boot, and measured boot in silicon to support remote attestation with a cloud service, and various tampering counter-measures. As of March 2022, however, Pluton is still in the design stage, as silicon companies see no reason to implement it.

Application development

The Linux-based Azure Sphere OS provides a platform for developers to write applications that use peripherals on the Azure Sphere chip. Applications can run on either the A7 core with access to external communications or as real-time capable apps on one of the M4 processors. Real-time capable applications can run on either bare metal or with a real-time operating system (RTOS). Developer applications can be distributed to Azure Sphere devices through the same secure mechanism as the Azure Sphere OS updates.

Timeline

The following is a list of announcements and releases from Microsoft around Azure Sphere.

References

External links

* 2018 software ARM operating systems Computer-related introductions in 2018 Computing platforms Embedded operating systems Linux Microcontroller software Microsoft hardware Microsoft operating systems {{operating-system-stub