Secure automotive telematics system (SATS)

The demand for automotive telematics systems is growing every year. Telematics systems are used for a variety of applications such as vehicle tracking, navigation, driving habits monitoring and e-tolling. Telematics systems transmit vehicle information over a GSM/GPRS network. The transmission over a GSM/GPRS network can be intercepted and the vehicle information can be compromised easily. This paper presents the design and development lifecycle of a secure automotive telematics system (SATS). The information transmitted by SATS to tracking server is encrypted; vice versa the commands sent by tracking server to SATS are also encrypted. The primary communication channel of the SATS is TCP/IP Socket and is secured by using industrial standard SSL/TLS protocol. The secondary or backup communication channel of SATS is SMS, and is secured by using AES-256 encryption algorithm. SATS is based on a Sierra Wireless Q2687 M2M Processor. SATS has an integrated on-board diagnostics (OBD) module to provide various vehicle parameters like speed, rpm, throttle, and fuel level etc. SATS provides various alerts like device tamper detection, emergency switch pressed and power-connector removal or wire-cut. The ignition of the vehicle can be disabled remotely through a command. Device configuration port of SATS is digitally-controlled through a password, to ensure SATS data integrity.