Problems of AES encryption without hardware acceleration on BROADCOM BCM2711chips

Abstract

In today’s world, information security plays a critical role in various aspects of our lives. Over the past decade, data encryption has become the primary means of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Using modern encryption algorithms, we can protect our data from unauthorized access and malicious use. With the development of technology, single-board computers are becoming more popular and functional. The use of single-board computers can significantly increase the functionality of UAVs. For example, using a single-board computer with real-time video processing capabilities can enable UAVs to perform tasks such as monitoring territories, tracking objects, or even performing search and rescue operations. However, devices such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which require high data processing speeds and low energy consumption, are often limited by the lack of hardware acceleration for encryption algorithms such as AES [1]. This leads to a sharp decrease in encryption and decryption speeds. Such a limitation requires us to search for effective alternatives to the AES algorithm for such devices. Considering these limitations and the need for alternatives, the purpose of this article is to compare the performance of different encryption algorithms on the Broadcom BCM2711, Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC [2]. We analyze the encryption and decryption speeds for AES-256, AES-512, ChaCha12, and ChaCha20 algorithms. This will allow us to understand which algorithm is most effective for use in UAV control systems and other devices built on Bcm2711 that do not have AES hardware acceleration. I hope that this analysis will help developers and engineers choose the optimal encryption algorithm for their systems, considering factors such as speed, security, and hardware limitations.