Support Remote Attestation for Decentralized Robot Operating System (ROS) using Trusted Execution Environment

The surge in autonomous robot deployments across diverse domains is undeniable. The Robot Operating System (ROS) stands out as the prevailing standard for robotics systems, with ROS 2 emerging as its revitalized version. ROS 2 uses Data Distribution Service (DDS) as its communication middleware, aligning itself with the blossom of decentralized and distributed smart systems. However, the security of ROS 2 is dependent on the implementation of the DDS security plugins, which provides domain-level access protection under the assumption of trust in local machines. The problem arises when a malicious ROS 2 node, compromised by malware, can disseminate false information or pilfer sensitive data from other legitimate nodes within the system. To address this vulnerability, this paper harnesses the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) to build a trustworthy ROS 2 platform with remote attestation. The proposed solution not only verifies the identity but also ensures the integrity of ROS 2 nodes before they provide/consume data and/or collaborate with each other. Our design establishes trust between communication parties and improves ROS 2 security by incorporating the hardware level protection.