Embedded Cryptography: An Analysis and Evaluation of Performance and Code Optimization Techniques for Encryption and Decryption in Embedded Systems

It is clear that Cryptography is computationally intensive. It is also known that embedded systems have slow clock rates and less memory. The idea for this thesis was to study the possibilities for analysis of cryptography on embedded systems. The basic approach was the implementation of cryptographic algorithms on high-end, state-of-the-art, DSP chips in order to study the various parameters that optimize the performance of the chip while keeping the overhead of encryption and decryption to a minimum. Embedded systems are very resource sensitive. An embedded system is composed of different components, which are implemented in both hardware and software. Therefore, hardware-software co-synthesis is a crucial factor affecting the performance of embedded systems. Encryption algorithms are generally classified as data-dominated systems rather than ubiquitous control-dominated systems. Data-dominated systems have a high degree of parallelism. Embedded systems populate the new generation gadgets such as cell phones and Smartcards where the encryption algorithms are obviously an integral part of the system. Due to the proliferation of embedded systems in all the current areas, there is a need for the systematic study of encryption techniques from the embedded systems point of view. This thesis explored the different ways encryption algorithms can be made to run faster with much less memory. Some of the issues investigated were overlapped scheduling techniques for high-level synthesis, structural partitioning, real-time issues, reusability and functionality, random number and unique key generators, seamless integration of cryptographic code with other applications and architecture specific optimization techniques