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Securing the Future of 5G Smart Dust: Optimizing Cryptographic Algorithms for Ultra-Low SWaP Energy-Harvesting Devices

While 5G energy harvesting makes 5G smart dust possible, stretching computation across power cycles affects cryptographic algorithms. This effect may lead to new security issues that make the system vulnerable to adversary attacks. Therefore, security measures are needed to protect data at rest and in transit across the network. In this paper, we identify the security requirements of existing 5G networks and the best-of-breed cryptographic algorithms for ultra-low SWaP devices in an energy harvesting context. To do this, we quantify the performance vs. energy tradespace, investigate the device features that impact the tradespace the most, and assess the security impact when the attacker has access to intermediate results. Our open-source energy-harvesting-tolerant versions of the cryptographic algorithms provide algorithm and device recommendations and ultra-low SWaP energy-harvesting-device-optimized versions of the cryptographic algorithms. / Master of Science / Smart dust is a network of tiny and energy-efficient devices that can gather data from the environment using various sensors, such as temperature, pressure, and humidity sensors. These devices are extremely small, often as small as a grain of sand or smaller, and have numerous applications, including environmental monitoring, structural health monitoring, and military surveillance. One of the main challenges of smart dust is its small size and limited energy resources, making it challenging to power and process the collected data. However, advancements in energy harvesting and low-power computing are being developed to overcome these challenges. In the case of 5G, energy harvesting technologies can be used to power small sensors and devices that are part of the 5G network, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Examples of IoT devices are wearable fitness trackers, smart thermostats, security cameras, home automation systems, and industrial sensors. Since 5G energy harvesting impacts the daily lives of people using the relevant devices, our research seeks to find out what kind of measures are necessary to guarantee their security.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115762
Date12 July 2023
CreatorsRyu, Zeezoo
ContributorsComputer Science and Applications, Hicks, Matthew, Gao, Peng, Lou, Wenjing
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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