Secure data storage unit based on new ferroelectric semiconductor memory devices

The proposed project aims at developing a non-volatile solid-state data storage unit with improved life-time, security, reliability and availability. Target applications include real-time embedded and portable systems operating in hostile environments. Additional requirements are low power consumption and low operating temperature. State-of-the-art non-volatile ferroelectric memory devices will be adopted to achieve suitable product life-time and power/temperature characteristics. An inovative approach to implement data encryption facilities within the data storage unit is proposed relieving the system CPU of data encryption tasks. Various error correction coding techniques will be investigated in order to obtain optimal resource usage vs. efficiency. The selected algorithm will be implemented within the data storage unit controller. Improved reliability and availability will be achieved by means of data redundancy techniques common to discrete disk arrays (RAID) at a single unit level. Proposed solution represents an original contribution in the field.