Demonstration of an Embedded Capability-Based Operating System

We propose to study the feasibility of demonstrating a capability-based operating system running a home control application on an embedded processing platform. Capability-based systems have documented advantages in security and reliability, but no commercial system is available for an embedded processor. Some embedded processors raise issues such as cache coherency that present challenges for a capability-based system where flexible sharing is the norm. By porting an existing code base, we expect to quickly develop a system to study. The demonstration will include software for a home automation system which will monitor the home, control lighting, audio/video, HVAC, security, and other systems, and manage resources. This application will demonstrate the robustness of the system, its performance parameters, its ability to interface to a variety of sensors and actuators, its ability to reliably and securely integrate software from many different sources, and its ability to communicate with users of various levels of trust. These characteristics are all of value in military and other commercial applications. The feasibility study will focus on performance and manageability of the system, both being areas in which questions remain about capability-based systems.