Implementation of XTEA Encryption Protocol based on IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless Systems

TL;DR

This paper details the hardware and software implementation of the XTEA encryption protocol for IEEE 802.15.4 wireless systems on Pololu Wixel devices, enhancing data security with minimal system impact.

Contribution

It presents practical methods for implementing XTEA encryption on low-power devices, addressing implementation challenges and validating secure communication in wireless systems.

Findings

Successful hardware and software encryption/decryption on Wixel devices

Resolved implementation issues like memory and buffer management

Enhanced data security with minimal impact on existing systems

Abstract

The problem of data security in IEEE 802.15.4 systems on Pololu Wixel devices is solved, examples of hardware and software implementation of encryption and decryption of different devices on the same platform are given. The proposed approaches can be used in the development, implementation and operation of wireless enterprise, industrial, and personal systems. Possible areas of development for this work are related to research on improving encryption algorithms (increasing key length, using asymmetric ciphers, etc.), comparing their performance, and implementing a complete data exchange protocol. During the work there were problems in the implementation of encryption algorithms on low-power processors. During the work, a number of issues were resolved regarding type reduction, addressing, memory space, buffer overflow, and more. Issues resolved with reconciliation of receiver and transmitter operation. Examples of hardware and software implementation of encryption and decryption of different devices based on Pololu Wixel are given in the paper. The basic task of building a secure communication channel by encrypting data in the channel was solved and firmware and application software were obtained to fully validate the devices. In addition, this work has great application potential, since the implementation of encryption in existing systems will have a small impact on implementation and will not affect the project budget, but will dramatically improve the security of data transmission in these networks. The proposed approaches can be used in the development, implementation and operation of wireless enterprise, industrial, and personal systems. Continuing this work may be to test the performance of other protocols on this and similar hardware for systems that may be embedded in short-range wireless communication projects of short-range standards.