FPGA-based partial crypto-reconfiguration of nodes for WSN

Abstract

FPGA has a large number of applications in various fields. Wireless sensor network is a vast field, and implementation of FPGA for WSN can minimize a number of complexities. Secure communication between the networks must be taken care of as a lot of networking takes place. Dynamic partial reconfiguration of the specific part minimizes area utilization and power consumption. In this paper, cryptographic algorithm Blowfish has been used. Partial reconfiguration is performed considering the variable key lengths. Low power node (L) has less key size, moderate power node (M) has moderate key size, and high power node (H) has large key size. It is also seen how Blowfish is better as compared to AES cipher. Experimental evaluation is given by considering two nodes on FPGA (ALTERA DE2) kit. Programming is done in VHDL.