Performance Benchmarking of Lightweight Hash Functions for Embedded IoT
Systematic evaluation of NIST-submitted, ISO-standardized, and other lightweight hash functions on AVR ATxmega128 microcontrollers using ChipWhisperer.
This project presents a comprehensive performance benchmarking framework for evaluating lightweight hash functions (LWHFs) on resource-constrained embedded IoT platforms. Our work targets developers, researchers, and system architects seeking energy-efficient, secure, and deployable cryptographic primitives for real-world IoT deployments.
1. Research Motivation
- IoT devices often operate on low-power microcontrollers with limited RAM and flash storage. - Selecting the wrong cryptographic primitive can lead to higher latency, battery drain, or deployment failure. - We benchmark NIST finalists, ISO/IEC 29192-5 standards, and other prominent LWHFs like PHOTON, Lesamnta-LW, BLAKE2s, and BLAKE3 to provide data-driven selection guidance.
2. Methodology
Target Platform - Microcontroller: AVR ATxmega128 - Measurement Tool: ChipWhisperer Lite (CW308 UFO Board) - Programming Language: C (compiled with AVR-GCC) - Triggering: GPIO-based measurement trigger for synchronous power analysis Evaluated Algorithms - NIST LWC Finalists (e.g., Ascon-Hash, PHOTON-Beetle, Xoodyak) - ISO/IEC 29192-5 Standards (SPONGENT, PHOTON) - Additional lightweight hash functions (Lesamnta-LW, BLAKE2s, BLAKE3) Metrics - Execution Time (ms) - Cycles per Byte - RAM / ROM Usage (bytes) - Energy Consumption (mJ) - Composite E-RANK Metric
3. System Architecture
System workflow: Compilation → Flashing to ATxmega128 → Triggered Execution → Data Capture (ChipWhisperer) → Performance Analysis.
4. Experimental Setup
ChipWhisperer Lite with ATxmega128 target microcontroller for synchronized power measurement and benchmarking.
5. Significance & Applications
- Enables evidence-based selection of LWHFs for specific IoT deployments. - Supports standardization efforts in lightweight cryptography. - Provides baseline security-performance trade-off data for integration into blockchain-enabled IoT security frameworks (like our DTEA architecture).
6. Publications
- Khan, M., Dagenborg, H., & Johansen, D. (2025). Software Benchmarking of NIST Lightweight Hash Function Finalists on Resource-Constrained AVR Platform via ChipWhisperer. SECRYPT 2025. [PDF](assets/pdf/secrypt2025.pdf) - Khan, M., Dagenborg, H., & Johansen, D. (2025). A Comparative Analysis of Lightweight Hash Functions Using AVR ATxmega128 and ChipWhisperer. LightSec 2025. [PDF](assets/pdf/lightsec2025.pdf)