Proof of concept for lightweight PUF-based authentication protocol using NodeMCU ESP8266

Abstract

Wireless sensor node is the foundation for building the next generation of ubiquitous networks or the so-called internet of things (IoT). Each node is equipped with sensing, computing devices, and a radio transceiver. Each node is connected to other nodes via a wireless sensor network (WSN). Examples of WSN applications include health care monitoring, and industrial monitoring. These applications process sensitive data, which if disclosed, may lead to unwanted implications. Therefore, it is crucial to provide fundamental security services such as identification and authentication in WSN. Nevertheless, providing this security on WSN imposes a significant challenge as each node in WSN has a limited area and energy consumption. Therefore, in this study, we provide a proof of concept of a lightweight authentication protocol by using physical unclonable function (PUF) technology for resource-constrained wireless sensor nodes. The authentication protocol has been implemented on NodeMCU ESP8266 devices. A server-client protocol configuration has been used to verify the functionality of the authentication protocol. Our findings indicate that the protocol used approximately 7% of flash memory and 48% of static random-access memory (SRAM) in the sensor node during the authentication process. Hence, the proposed scheme is suitable to be used for resource-constrained IoT devices such as WSN.