Status: Research and Development Alpha / Institutional Deployment Candidate (2026) License: Custom IA_AUT_ECO Ethical License / AI B Act Adherent Core Maintainer: IA_AUT_ECO (Meaux, France)

The Winterhold Framework is a French Deep Tech engineering solution establishing the sovereign software standard for next-generation assistive robotics and critical autonomy systems.

This framework addresses the systemic vulnerability of current assistive technologies by prioritizing resilience, auditability, and data sovereignty over feature commoditization. We ensure that physical safety and cognitive data integrity meet the requirements of national critical infrastructure.

• Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA): A fundamental security model eliminating implicit trust, enforced at the Kernel and Edge level.
• Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC): Native embedding of PQC primitives to secure long-term data integrity against theoretical quantum threats.
• AI Act Compliance: Built-in mechanism (Ysgrammor) enabling full decision-making traceability for compliance with High-Risk AI system requirements.

Winterhold operates on an Open Core methodology, providing a demonstrably verifiable core for institutional partners and certified manufacturers.

A dedicated fork of FreeBSD engineered for embedded, real-time, and functional safety-critical robotics applications.

• Objective: Minimize the attack surface and ensure deterministic performance.
• Implementation: Incorporates advanced Kernel Hardening techniques, Mandatory Access Controls (MAC), and secure boot processes optimized for embedded hardware (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson platform).

The certified communication and orchestration layer responsible for maintaining system integrity and external security.

• Function: Enforces Mutual TLS (mTLS), manages PQC key rotation, and serves as the NIS2 resilience component, managing incident logging and reporting protocols.

Modules for optimized inference and cognitive process management on the Edge.

• MASAQ: Manages resource allocation for low-latency inference on embedded systems.
• Skald: The core cognitive agent utilizing Small Language Models (SLMs) and Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) for semantic translation and critical command execution.

A dedicated, immutable logging module providing verifiable proof of every AI decision executed by Skald.

• Mandate: Fulfills the EU AI Act's requirement for transparency and accountability in High-Risk AI deployments.

The Winterhold Framework is the certified software core for deployments in:

• DAWNSTAR: Certified robotic mobility agents.
• ESBERN: High-precision manipulation systems.
• Cognitive Augmentation: Localized Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems (MNEMOSYNE) for memory prosthesis and anomaly detection (VESTA).

The architecture is designed to support secure, decoupled interoperability with specialized administrative systems, such as the Koalix CRM fork, Arngeir, maintaining a clear functional separation between critical life-safety and institutional management layers.

IA_AUT_ECO prioritizes collaboration with specialized expertise. We seek contributions that enhance the system's security profile and technical depth.

• Areas of Focus: FreeBSD systems programming, Post-Quantum Cryptography implementation, ROS 2 Safety Layer development, and low-level embedded system optimization.
• Protocol: All contributions are subject to rigorous security and architectural audit to uphold NIS2 compliance and critical safety rating.