Low-Energy Finite Field Arithmetic Primitives for Implementing Security in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper we propose the use of identity based encryption (IBE) for ensuring a secure wireless sensor network. In this context we have implemented the arithmetic operations required for the most computationally expensive part of IBE, which is the Tate pairing, in 90 nm CMOS and obtained area, timing and energy figures for the designs. Initial results indicate that a hardware implementation of IBE would meet the strict energy constraint of a wireless sensor network node