In-depth energy analysis of security algorithms and protocols for the Internet of Things

Devices that populate the Internet of Things (IoT) are typically constrained with respect to energy consumption. When the data that are processed, stored and/or communicated by these devices need to be secured, low-energy security mechanisms have to be designed and implemented. Related work mainly concentrates either on low-energy security algorithms and protocols, or on low-energy wireless communication. However, it is important for system developers to take into account the overall energy consumption of the IoT system when making design choices. Therefore, this work presents an in-depth analysis of the energy consumption of IoT devices that provide end-to-end secure communication and digital signatures. The paper follows a granular approach, profiling and measuring each individual contribution to the overall energy consumption, including the computation of cryptographic operations as well as the wireless transmission of messages in cryptographic protocols. The paper also calculates the minimal time period of a secure communication session in order to minimize the energy impact of the session’s setup phase and thus minimize the overall average power consumption. The goal of this work is to provide assistance in the selection of a suitable wireless communication standard and cryptographic cipher suite for building end-to-end secure IoT applications.