A Review on FPGA Implementation of Lightweight Cryptography for Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have become increasingly popular in recent years due to their ability to remotely monitor and gather data in a variety of applications. The frequent exchange of confidential data over the network makes WSNs vulnerable to various attacks that can threaten their security. To mitigate these attacks security services such as confidentiality, authentication, and integrity is required. The interacting devices in the network can be authenticated and the transmitted data can be protected using encryption methods. As WSNs are resource-limited, it is a challenge to develop and implement an encryption algorithm that is secure and resource-efficient. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated the lightweight cryptography (LWC) project to standardize lightweight cryptography algorithms, useful for constrained environments where current standards are not acceptable. Lightweight cryptographic algorithms are designed to provide adequate security and performance while not being computationally very expensive. The combination of cryptographic algorithms with hardware can significantly increase the security level, efficiency, and lifetime of the sensor node. This paper presents a comparative study of the NIST LWC finalists, evaluating the top variants based on design and FPGA benchmarking metrics such as block size, performance parameters, and security. All of the ciphers were implemented and tested on Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA. Finally, the paper discusses some optimization measures and future directions for the use of lightweight cryptographic coprocessors in WSNs.