Performance evaluation of EC-ElGamal encryption algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

The rapid development in the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) filed has allowed this technology to be used in many applications. In some of these applications, wireless sensor devices must be secured, especially when the captured information is valuable, sensitive, or for military usage. However, the implementation of security mechanisms on WSNs is a non-trivial task. Limitations in processing speed, battery power, bandwidth and memory constrain the applicability of existing cryptography algorithms for WSNs. The security of WSNs poses challenges because of the criticality of the data sensed by a node and in turn the node meets severe constraints like minimal energy, computational and communicational capabilities. Taking all the above said challenges energy efficiency or battery life time plays a major role in network lifetime. Providing security consumes some energy used by a node, so there is a need to minimize the energy consumption of any security algorithm that will be implemented in WSNs. As a solution, we apply an additive homomorphic encryption scheme, namely the elliptic curve ElGamal (EC-ElGamal) cryptosystem, and present the performance results of our implementation for the prominent sensor platform MicaZ mote. © Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2013.