Firmware Over-the-air Programming Techniques for IoT Networks - A Survey

The devices forming Internet of Things (IoT) networks need to be re-programmed over the air, so that new features are added, software bugs or security vulnerabilities are resolved, and their applications can be re-purposed. The limitations of IoT devices, such as installation in locations with limited physical access, resource-constrained nature, large scale, and high heterogeneity, should be taken into consideration for designing an efficient and reliable pipeline for over-the-air programming (OTAP). In this work, we present a survey of OTAP techniques, which can be applied to IoT networks. We highlight the main challenges and limitations of OTAP for IoT devices and analyze the essential steps of the firmware update process, along with different approaches and techniques that implement them. In addition, we discuss schemes that focus on securing the OTAP process. Finally, we present a collection of state-of-the-art open-source and commercial platforms that integrate secure and reliable OTAP.