Data transmission using secure hybrid techniques for smart energy metering devices

Abstract

Data transfer between components, continuous device monitoring, and other features are possible with an IoT-based energy management system. Due to its lightweight, compact, and expandable characteristics, the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport protocol (MQTT) has recently played an important role in IoT. Since the MQTT protocol cannot provide security between the publishing house and the subscription service, cryptographic techniques can be enforced. This work implements a public-key encryption system-based Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) technique to secure data from Publisher's end to the Subscriber's end. The data from the Raspberry plane is sent to the MQTT publisher with elliptical curve encryption built-in feature. The message/text is converted into cipher text and conveyed through the topic within the MQTT protocol to the subscribed Broker. The subscriber decrypts the cipher text using the elliptical curve cryptography technique with the secret key. This protects data, personal privacy, and safety in a more efficient and convenient way. ECC and MQTT protocols implemented in this work proved to be worthy for both burst mode and continuous data transmissions when compared to the conventional cryptographic techniques.