On the Energy Cost of Communication and Cryptography in Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy is a central concern in the deployment of wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we investigate the energy cost of cryptographic protocols, both from a communication and a computation point of view, based on practical measurements on the MICAz and TelosB sensors. We focus on the cost of two key agreement protocols: Kerberos and the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange with authentication provided by the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDH-ECDSA). We find that, in our context, Kerberos is around one order of magnitude less costly than the ECDH-ECDSA key exchange and confirm that it should be preferred in situations where a trusted third party is available. We also observe that the power dedicated to communications can become a central concern when the nodes need to stay in listen mode, e.g. between the protocol rounds, even when reduced using a Low Power Listening (LPL) protocol. Therefore, listening should be considered when assessing the cost of cryptogr...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: WIMOB
• Authors: Giacomo de Meulenaer, François Gosset, François-Xavier Standaert, Olivier Pereira
• Keywords: Central Concern, Cryptographic Protocols, Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, Mobile Computing, WIMOB 2008