Performance Evaluation of Skipjack and RC5 Cryptographic Algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks

• Tiago M. Cavalcante UFC
• Fernando P. Garcia UFC / IFCE
• Danielo G. Gomes UFC
• Rossana M. C. Andrade UFC

Abstract

The increase in the number of applications for wireless sensor networks (WSN) makes more relevant the concern about information security in such networks. Taking in consideration that the selection of the appropriate encryption algorithm is essential for providing data security in WSN, the goal of this paper is to evaluate the performance of RC5 and Skipjack algorithms aiming to direct the design of WSN in the choice of cryptographic algorithm. Experiments were carried out in a real platform MicaZ, with the help of a digital oscilloscope. The measurement results indicate that the RC5 algorithm requires less ROM (7%), time (8%) and energy (8%) for encryption. In contrast, the Skipjack requires less RAM (9%), time (5%) and energy (5%) in the decryption.

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