Secure and Trustworthy NFC-Based Sensor Readout for Battery Packs in Battery Management Systems

Abstract

Wireless Battery Management Systems (BMS) are increasingly being considered for modern applications. The everincreasing complexity and production costs of BMS modules and wired connections resulted in a necessity for new ideas and approaches. Despite this growing trend, there is a lack of generic solutions focused on battery cells' sensor readout, where wireless communication allows for a more flexible and cost-efficient sensor installation in battery packs. Many wireless technologies, such as those that use the 2.4 GHz frequency band, suffer from interference and other limitations. In this article, we present an alternative approach to communication in BMS that relies on the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology for battery sensor readouts. As an answer to the rising concern over the counterfeited battery packs, we consider an authentication schema for battery pack validation. We further consider security measures for the processed and stored BMS status data. To show that a general BMS application can make use of our design, we implement a BMS demonstrator using the targeted components. We further test the demonstrator on the technical and functional level, by also performing evaluation on its performance, energy usage, and a security threat model.

Wireless BMS Architecture for Secure Readout in Vehicle and Second life Applications

“…Here, devices are divided into an active and a passive class. In the context of BMS, NFC suffers from a short range compared to other wireless technologies [7], but it provides an advantage when considering interference, security concerns and accessibility with NFC-enabled devices [19]. It is also capable of generating electromagnetic fields through an active device to power the passive devices via energy harvesting [23].…”

“…By relying only on NFC, we are able to provide a solution for three different scenarios that extend the BMS functionality, as described in Table I. : (i) active readout of internal sensors [19], (ii) idle state scenario considered for off-vehicle use cases, and (iii) active diagnostic readout [20].…”

“…In response to the aforementioned challenges, we present in this paper a complete design for wireless BMS internal and external data communication based on NFC. To extend on the previous work in this area, we unify two separate designs, one targeting internal sensor readout from battery packs and the other targeting external status and diagnostic readout in a BMS system design [19], [20].…”

Current and Future Trends of RFID Systems Guest Editorial of the Special Issue on SpliTech 2021 and IEEE RFID-TA 2021 Conferences

“…Indeed, Basic et al,in [A11], proposed an interesting and unusual application of wireless identification and communication exploiting the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The main goal is to enable the NFC-sensing of the status of batteries by integrating an NFC tag in a battery management system (BMS).…”

Towards interactional management for power batteries of electric vehicles

“…Due to the usage dependent degradation and instability of LiBs, outside of certain operating windows, a real-time embedded battery management system (BMS) is of vital importance for maintaining safety and reliability. 4 The key objective of a BMS is to monitor key states, minimize degradation, 5 balance cells 6 and detect faults. 7 Research and development in LiBs have traditionally focused on electrode and electrolyte development across multiple length scales, 8 however linking these insights into the design of BMSs remains an urgent need.…”