Lightweight Cryptography for the Internet of Things: A Multi-Metric Experimental Assessment

• Yuri Silva Vaz UFPel
• Júlio C. B. Mattos UFPel
• Rafael Iankowski Soares UFPel

Resumo

The increasing use of resource-constrained devices in IoT applications demands cryptographic algorithms that are both secure and efficient. This work presents a thorough comparative analysis of the most widely cited lightweight symmetric cryptographic algorithms—ASCON, XTEA, SLIM, AES-LWC, SHADOW, and PRESENT—using the original AES as a benchmark due to its proven security and adaptability in both hardware and software. The evaluation was conducted on ESP32 and Raspberry Pi Pico platforms, considering execution time, throughput, memory usage, energy consumption, avalanche effect, bit balance, and NIST statistical tests. XTEA achieved the best overall performance, combining high efficiency with full compliance with all security criteria. SLIM and AES-LWC demonstrated balanced performance across both efficiency and security. ASCON was efficient but exhibited the highest memory usage among all algorithms. SHADOW showed intermediate results, while PRESENT performed the worst, with low efficiency and failures in statistical tests. These findings provide practical guidance for selecting lightweight ciphers that meet the specific performance and security constraints of IoT applications.

Palavras-chave: Performance evaluation, Energy consumption, Ciphers, Memory management, Software algorithms, NIST, Throughput, Systems engineering and theory, Internet of Things, Standards, internet of things, lightweight cryptography, experimental evaluation, energy consumption, security metrics