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High-Performance, Table of Contents

2 Introduction
Highly Secure 2 Communication

Networking for 3
Accelerators

Enterprise Network

Industrial and IoT Lineage Features

5 Example applications
Applications
Abstract
The networking, industrial control, Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
and emerging Internet of Things (IoT) markets all share a
similar basic requirement: the ability to safely and securely
connect a variety of end points and support centralized control
across the network. The widespread adoption of the Internet
Protocol (IP) standard now commonly used in enterprise
networks by the industrial automation, M2M and IoT markets
is allowing them to leverage common networking building
blocks across these emerging application spaces. This paper
will discuss the additional requirements for ensuring industrial,
M2M and IoT networks incorporate support for trust, security,
high reliability and efficient performance.
 High-Performance, Highly Secure Networking for Industrial and IoT Applications

Introduction
The networking, industrial control, machine-to-machine (M2M) and emerging Internet of
Things (IoT) markets all share a similar basic requirement: the ability to connect a variety of
end points together and support centralized control of the network. The widespread adoption
of the Internet Protocol (IP) standard enables industrial automation, M2M and IoT applications
to leverage common network connectivity building blocks.

The adoption of Ethernet to enable connectivity between machines on the factory floor has
been growing steadily as manufacturers seek greater visibility to data, improved productivity
and the ability to remotely manage their industrial operations. Enhancing the visibility and
management of networked factory devices, which enables streamlining of their associated
functions, depends on the ability to ensure the data carried across the factory network
remains secure.

Freescale continues to lead the industry in this trend as one of the top suppliers of networking
processors used in control and data plane applications for more than 20 years. Whether the
design involves networking infrastructure, industrial control networks (gateways or PLCs) or
factory floor equipment, some essential requirements must be satisfied: deliver exceptional
reliability, data security, efficient packet processing and enhanced connectivity support.

Freescale first established itself as the industry leader for networking solutions by supporting
these requirements with its communication processors based on Power Architecture®
technology. Building on this expertise and record of innovation achieved over the past twenty
years, Freescale announced the first QorIQ networking processor family based on the ARM®
ISA. The innovative QorIQ LS1021A processor is equipped with dual high-efficiency ARM
Cortex®-A7 cores with ECC-protected L1 and L2 caches to ensure maximum reliability and
support operating speeds up to 1 GHz. The dual ARM cores are complimented by the highest
level of integration ever offered in a sub-3 W microprocessor. High-performance networking
interfaces include Gigabit Ethernet, PCI Express® 2.0, SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0. The LS1021A
processor also features support for legacy serial interfaces, including TDM, HDLC, UART,
I2C, SPI, CAN and PWM/Quadric decoding. In addition to the wide variety of communication
interfaces, the processor offers support for SDHC, I2S, and an integrated LCD controller.

Communication Accelerators
In process automation and manufacturing control applications, the network must be always
available, highly reliable and secure. At the same time, network processors need to provide
intelligent features that allow companies to take advantage of the flow of information available
today within their networks.

To deliver maximum reliability and bullet-proof security, Freescale network processors

integrate industry-leading network acceleration and protection technologies. Among these
technologies is the programmable micro QUICC Engine that supports Field Bus and RS485
protocols such as PROFIBUS (both master and slave), as well as legacy HDLC and TDM
communication protocols.

Supporting Ethernet connectivity, each of the virtualized, enhanced triple speed Ethernet
controllers (VeTSEC) support IEEE® 1588 time stamping on both ingress and egress, along
with timer and pulse implementation in hardware. The hardware also supports software

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 High-Performance, Highly Secure Networking for Industrial and IoT Applications

managed queues, which when combined with the ingress parsing up to ISO layer 4 and
hardware prioritization on egress, allows for simple effective queuing to be implemented.

These proven Ethernet controllers are common to other Freescale processors used in
industrial applications and are supported by a wide variety of mature software drivers,
including software stacks for Industrial Ethernet (EtherCAT® Master), PROFINET® (RT),
EtherNet/IP™ and PRP.

QorIQ LS1021AProcessor
QorIQ LS1021A Processor Block
Block Diagram
Diagram
System Control ARM® ARM®
Internal Boot ROM Cortex®-A7 Cortex®-A7
Core Core
Security Fuses FPU NEON FPU NEON

Security Monitor
32 KB 32 KB 32 KB 32 KB
Power Management D Cache I Cache D Cache I Cache DDR3L/4
Memory 128 KB
DMA
Controller SRAM
System Interfaces 512 KB Coherent L2 Cache

IFC Flash
Cache Coherent Interconnect (CCI 400)
QuadSPI Flash
1x SD/MMC
uQE
2x DUART, 6x LP UART Security
(HDLC,
(XoR,
TDM,

SATA 3.0
Ethernet

Ethernet

Ethernet

PCIe 2.0

PCIe 2.0
3x I C, 2x SPI, GPIO
2
CRC)
PB)
Audio Subsystem:
4x I2S, ASRC, SPDF
4x CAN, FlexTimer, PWM
1x USB 3.0 w/ PHY
4-Lane 6 GHz SerDes
USB 2.0
LCD Controller

Core Complex Basic Peripherals and Interconnect

Accelerators and Memory Control Networking Elements

Enterprise Network Lineage Features

The QorIQ LS1021A processor was designed from the ground up to meet the needs of
demanding and rugged networked applications. This is achieved by incorporating error
detection and correction (ECC) technology on all memories, including Layer 1 and 2
caches, as well as SRAM and external DDR memory for maximum reliability, as well as
watchdog timers. Complimenting the reliability enabled by ECC-protected memories is a
high-performance security engine that supports a full array of data protection mechanisms,
including secure boot, trust architecture, ARM TrustZone® and manufacturing protection,
which together enable the maximum in trusted node capability.

These features are essential in IoT applications where many edge of network devices and
sensors will be capturing and transmitting user-specific data between nodes. Since this data
can be directly related or linked to an individual user, it is essential that the data be encrypted.
This is increasingly being regulated and monitored by legislation which extends to the
specification of encryption standards and protocols to be used. The inevitable result will be a
requirement that communication processors used in M2M or IoT applications must have the
capability of performing cryptographic operations, such as hashing, signing and encrypting
data, as well as a secure key storage unit in order to meet regulatory requirements.

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 High-Performance, Highly Secure Networking for Industrial and IoT Applications

Industrial communication links must also be secure, not just from data snooping but also
from unauthorized control which could result in such costly events as taking down a
production line.

However, even if the data transmitted between the network communication links is encrypted,
the physical device may still be vulnerable to attack via an unauthorized modification of the
program software. Therefore, a device must not only provide secure communication, but be
able to operate as a trusted node. A trusted node is a device that the user can fully rely on
to not only protect data, but to ensure it only executes authentic software created for it by
the user.

In the real world trust is typically conferred, and this concept extends in similar fashion to
the digital world. If you get information (data or a command) from a trusted source, you can
assume that it is reliable, valid information. Booting up a trusted device requires a “root of
trust,” which can be an external (typically expensive) device, such as an FPGA or ASIC, or it
can be integrated in the SoC (system-on-chip) itself, as it is in the QorIQ LS1 product family.
In the case of the LS1021A processor, authentication is performed within a preboot loader
that is contained completely in internal ROM. This implementation provides a one-time user
programmable authentication KEY to be used with the preboot loader, creating the trust
needed to prevent unauthorized code/users from manipulating the system. The trusted node
feature is enabled by writing the authentication KEYs and an enable bit, which are one-time
user programmable fuses. Once the Trust mode is enabled, external boot code image(s)
(e.g., boot loader, OS kernels or even bare metal code) will only be executed after it has been
decrypted and authenticated by the preboot loader KEYs. This code then becomes the next
source of trust. Included in the decrypted/authenticated code can be data-like KEYs that can
be used in the trusted communication links. Support for a primary and alternate (secondary)
signed code images to provide additional reliability.

The external code image is encrypted using the same KEY(s) blown into KEY area on the
QorIQ LS1021A processor by the user’s development team with the tool chain provided
to program the device. Hence, the code image is known to be secure when it leaves the
development group.

Once the code image is authenticated by the device, the device operates in the “secure”
state. To maintain the secure operation state, additional security features are available to
detect and prevent unauthorized tampering or manipulation of the code/data in external
memory.

The secure debug controller manages access to the system through the JTAG interface,
which can be closed down unconditionally or be opened in various access modes upon
passing a challenge/response sequence.

The Run-Time integrity checker supports periodic checks of predefined memory regions for
modification (by harmful or defective code) by continuously calculating and comparing hashes
of these memory regions.

An external tamper detection pin can be used to detect physical attacks to the device.

Finally, ARM TrustZone supports the division of the system into secure and nonsecure zones
and controls access privileges between those zones.

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 High-Performance, Highly Secure Networking for Industrial and IoT Applications

All security failures are collected and their severity evaluated by the security monitor that is
part of the secure nonvolatile storage unit, which then executes the respective actions. This
could be the automatic deletion of sensitive information, such as KEYs, and to notify the
operating system of such a violation.

The second block related to security is the cryptographic engine block, which covers
acceleration of the security and encryption algorithms to be implemented. Note, this is
used by the preboot loader to accelerate the decryption/authentication boot process. This
block provides hardware acceleration for the algorithms associated with IPSec, SSL/TLS,
WiMAX and various other standards; many of them with single-pass processing involved
whenever data in the IoT has to be exchanged and transported out of the device. It is a
modular and scalable security core that is optimized to process all it can, and even perform
multi-algorithmic operations (e.g., 3DESHMAC-SHA-1) in a single pass of data. Some of
the algorithms implemented in hardware are XOR, DES, AES and a NIST-certified random
number generator.

Summary
To enable high performance, highly secure network connectivity for industrial control, M2M
and IoT applications, some essential requirements must be satisfied: exceptional reliability,
ensure data is secure, deliver efficient packet processing, and enhanced connectivity support.
The QorIQ LS1021A processor has been engineered to meet these requirements, delivering
exceptional performance efficiency together with an optimized mix of connectivity and
security features.

Example applications
Following are a collection of example use cases for industrial and IoT applications that can be
supported based on the feature set of the QorIQ S1021A processor.

Programmable Logic Controller (PLC): QorIQ LS1021A Processor

LS1021A/LS1020A

ARM® ARM®
Cortex®-A7 Cortex®-A7
Core Core
FPU NEON FPU NEON

32 KB 32 KB 32 KB 32 KB
D Cache I Cache D Cache I Cache
128 KB
SRAM
512 KB Coherent L2 Cache

Cache Coherent Interconnect (CCI 400)

CANopen
PROFINET® LCD SAI FlexTimer UCC PHY RS485 PROFIBUS®
RJ45 PHY Ethernet uQE
EtherNet/IP™ Security Controller I2S Module UCC PHY RS485 Modbus
(HDLC,
ETHERNET Powerlink (XoR,
RJ45 PHY Ethernet TDM,
CRC) CAN PHY RS485
4-Lane 6 GHz SerDes

Modbus PB) SAI FlexTimer

TCP/IP I2S Module CAN PHY RS485 DeviceNet™
EhterCAT® RJ45 PHY Ethernet CANopen
Master USB FlexTimer CAN PHY RS485 J1939
2.0 Module CAN PHY RS485
PCIe 2.0
TCP/IP J1939
PCIe 2.0 SDHC SD Card

Quad SPI IC
2

Master Harddrive SATA 3.0

NOR SPI
DDR3L/4
USB 3.0 USB 3.0 Memory NAND UART Console
Controller
IFC

DDR
FLASH

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 High-Performance, Highly Secure Networking for Industrial and IoT Applications

Wireless
LS1021A
Gateway (Trusted Node): QorIQ LS1021A Processor
ARM® ARM®
Cortex®-A7 Cortex®-A7
Core Core
FPU NEON FPU NEON

32 KB 32 KB 32 KB 32 KB
D Cache I Cache D Cache I Cache
128 KB
SRAM
512 KB Coherent L2 Cache

Cache Coherent Interconnect (CCI 400)

RJ45 PHY Ethernet LCD SAI FlexTimer UCC

uQE

4-Lane 6 GHz
Security Controller I2S Module UCC
(HDLC,

SerDes
RJ45 PHY Ethernet (XoR,
TDM,
CRC) SAI FlexTimer CAN
PB)
RJ45 PHY Ethernet I2S Module CAN

PHY USB FlexTimer CAN

USB 2.0 Module CAN
PCIe 2.0
PCIe
PCIe 2.0 SDHC SD Card
I2C

Quad SPI I2C

USB SATA 3.0
NOR SPI
PCIe DDR3L/4
I2C Memory NAND UART Console
I2C
USB 3.0 Controller
IFC

DDR
FLASH

Network
LS1021A
Attached Encrypted Storage: QorIQ LS1021A Processor
ARM® ARM®
Cortex®-A7 Cortex®-A7
Core Core
FPU NEON FPU NEON

32 KB 32 KB 32 KB 32 KB
D Cache I Cache D Cache I Cache
128 KB
SRAM
512 KB Coherent L2 Cache

Cache Coherent Interconnect (CCI 400)

RJ45 PHY Ethernet LCD SAI FlexTimer UCC

uQE
4-Lane 6 GHz

Security Controller I2S Module UCC

(HDLC,
SerDes

Ethernet (XoR,
TDM,
CRC) SAI FlexTimer CAN
PB)
Ethernet I2S Module CAN

PHY USB FlexTimer CAN

USB 2.0 Module CAN
PCIe 2.0
PCIe
PCIe 2.0 SDHC SD Card
IC
2

Quad SPI I2C

Harddrive SATA 3.0
NOR SPI
DDR3L/4
I2C Memory NAND UART Console
USB 3.0 USB 3.0 Controller
IFC

DDR
FLASH

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For more information, please visit freescale.com/QorIQ

Freescale, the Freescale logo and QorIQ are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. QUICC Engine
is a trademark of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. ARM,
Cortex and TrustZone are registered trademarks of ARM Limited (or its subsidiaries) in the EU and/or elsewhere. All rights reserved.
The Power Architecture and Power.org word marks and the Power and Power.org logos and related marks are trademarks and
service marks licensed by Power.org. © 2014 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.

Document Number: QORIQINDIOTWP REV 0

August 2014