A System-on-a-Chip Implementation of a Post-Quantum Cryptography Scheme for Smart Meter Data Communications.

Area of Science:

• Cybersecurity
• Quantum Computing
• Embedded Systems

Background:

• Quantum computing poses a significant threat to the security of current smart meter (SM) systems.
• Existing cryptographic schemes are vulnerable to quantum attacks, necessitating quantum-secure solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of implementing a quantum-secure lattice-based key encapsulation mechanism in hardware-constrained smart meter equipment.
• To evaluate the performance of the FrodoKEM post-quantum cryptography scheme on a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) device.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of the FrodoKEM post-quantum cryptography scheme on a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) device.
• Utilization of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) component within the SoC to accelerate computationally intensive routines.
• Benchmarking against a software-only implementation.

Main Results:

• The SoC-based implementation of FrodoKEM achieved a two-thirds reduction in execution time compared to the benchmark software implementation.
• The experimental results demonstrate that the execution time and hardware resource utilization are suitable for smart meter applications.

Conclusions:

• Lattice-based cryptography, specifically the FrodoKEM scheme, is a viable solution for securing smart meter systems against quantum computing threats.
• System-on-a-Chip (SoC) implementation with FPGA acceleration offers a practical approach to deploying quantum-secure cryptography in resource-constrained environments like smart meters.