Research Article
AES Data Encryption in a ZigBee Network: Software or Hardware?
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-642-17502-2_14, author={Geoffrey Ottoy and Tom Hamelinckx and Bart Preneel and Lieven Strycker and Jean-Pierre Goemaere}, title={AES Data Encryption in a ZigBee Network: Software or Hardware?}, proceedings={Security and Privacy in Mobile Information and Communication Systems. Second International ICST Conference, MobiSec 2010, Catania, Sicily, Italy, May 27-28, 2010, Revised Selected Papers}, proceedings_a={MOBISEC}, year={2012}, month={5}, keywords={software encryption hardware encryption AES ZigBee}, doi={10.1007/978-3-642-17502-2_14} }- Geoffrey Ottoy
Tom Hamelinckx
Bart Preneel
Lieven Strycker
Jean-Pierre Goemaere
Year: 2012
AES Data Encryption in a ZigBee Network: Software or Hardware?
MOBISEC
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-17502-2_14
Abstract
This paper describes the experiments which have been conducted to determine the optimal implementation concept for AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) data encryption in a ZigBee network [1,2]. Two concepts have been considered. The first one is a AES128-CBC hardware co-processor embedded on a Spartan 3A FPGA. The second configuration implements the same cryptographic algorithm on the processor which controls the ZigBee nodes. The ZigBee modules in the network contain an 8-bit microcontroller which takes care of the ZigBee protocol stack –and the encryption calculations in the second case. Both approaches are examined and compared. In this paper we show that –in general– a software implementation is feasible in a ZigBee network, though a low-power hardware cryptographic co-processor could prove to be useful in some cases.