UBOTA Protocol - UDP Bursts for Over-the-Air Secure Vehicular Software Updates

This paper presents UBOTA, a novel protocol designed for Over-the-Air software updates in vehicular systems. Despite replacing TCP by UDP, UBOTA guarantees reliable transmission and optimizes software delivery speeds through bursts of encrypted UDP packets, reducing the reliance on establishing connections in unstable mobile networks. Addition-ally, the protocol reduces the total data transmitted, leading to cost savings due to a more efficient use of network resources. Our implementation extends our prior work on securing OTA updates, adding a focus on transmission speed and data efficiency. Experimental results indicate a 50% improvement in speed under ideal lossless network conditions as well as a 500% increase in very lossy networks. Additionally, UBOTA protocol is also 45% more efficient in terms of data volume. Performance analysis underscores the critical role of the retransmission timer, revealing its impact on packet duplication and redundant requests.