Methods to electronically identify the MP3V5010DP - security purpose

[TiberiusB]

Hi,

I am the main coordinator of PEP Master, a project to design open source medical devices destined for open dissemination and DIY or decentralized fabrication. We are engaging with Health Canada for regulatory approval of medical devices that are brought to patients through alternative means, open source innovation and distributed fabrication.  Our first case is an instrument that uses your MP3V5010DP pressure sensor. This sensor is the most critical component in our instrument, which can cause harm to a patient in case of malfunction. To comply with the strict safety and security requirements in the medical field, we would like to add to our instrument a method to identify and validate the authenticity of the pressure sensor. In other words, design an electronic layer on top of the core functional layer, to interrogate and confirm the authenticity of this particular component. I'd like to know if we can get some assistance from engineers that are involved with the design and fabrication of the MP3V5010DP sensor.

One way to think about this is spectroscopy, as a method to interrogate the molecular structure of a substance, revealing a unique fingerprint. By analogy, any electronic component has a unique way to respond, perhaps when exposed to a non-damaging transient electrical signal, based on its internal architecture. If a knockoff of the MP3V5010DP sensor is produced by another company, at lower cost, it would respond in a different way. These differences may come from the type of alloys used, the geometry (including thickness) of conductors, etc. My assumption is that an engineer that has contributed to the design of this sensor may be able to provide some ideas that we could test in our lab. These ideas may be derived from in-depth knowledge about the architecture of the sensor, compared with similar sensors produced by other companies.

As a motivator, our application has an interesting feature, perhaps not yet considered by NXP: we are developing new methods to build trust in decentralized innovation and production, peer production that is, which is part of a new economic paradigm that is exponentially growing since the 90'. Sensorica is a pioneer in material peer production, founded in 2011. 

Moreover, since this project is open source and in collaboration with academia, your contribution will be acknowledged in various publications.

Furthermore, this project has a very strong humanitarian component, providing low cost medical treatment for rare disease that affect children.  NXP can greatly leverage media about PEP Master for marketing purposes, branding/image.

You can find more about our project here

https://www.sensorica.co/ventures/scientific-instruments/pep-master

[TiberiusB]

Hi Jozef,

Yes, a proof of purchase can be considered as part of the validating mechanism, but this would not be enough for our application. 

Note that I am not suggesting that your company provides an enhanced sensor with self-validation capabilities. What I am proposing, is to collaborate to figure out a way to electronically interrogate the authenticity of the sensor, a method that would be external to the sensor itself.

If this is still not clear, I can provide more info...

[TiberiusB]

For transparency, I'm also engaging All Sensors corporation in a similar discussion.
https://allsensors.com/en/product-listing?family=dlc
It would be nice to be able to work with you though...

[JozefKozon]

Hi Tiberius,

thank you for your clarification. Please see below the policy we work for authenticity of our chips. This is the way we currently work. 

Our anti-counterfeit product policy. NXP does not provide support for purchases made from unauthorized sources, including warranty support, failure analysis, marking or trace code verification.

NXP Anti-Counterfeit Products Policy
https://www.nxp.com/company/about-nxp/quality:QUALITY_HOME

Thank you for your understanding.

With Best Regards,

Jozef

[JozefKozon]

Hi Tiberius,

thank you for your offer. However I am afraid it would increase the cost of the chips and I am not sure if the components then will be cost competitive. The way we guarantee authenticity of our components is, that you purchase them directly from NXP or from our authorized distributors. Please see this link for a list of our authorized distributors. If you purchase components from other source, then we cannot guarantee authenticity of the components.

With Best Regards,

Jozef