A cross-layer approach to trustfulness in the Internet of Things

Abstract

It is a mistake to assume that each embedded object in the Internet of Things will implement a TCP/IP stack similar to those present in contemporary operating systems. Typical requirements of ordinary things, such as low power consumption, small size, and low cost, demand innovative solutions. In this article, we describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a trustful infrastructure for the Internet of Things based on EPOSMote. The infrastructure was built around EPOS' second generation of motes, which features an ARM processor and an IEEE 802.15.4 radio transceiver. It is presented to end users through a trustful communication protocol stack compatible with TCP/IP. Trustfulness was tackled at MAC level by extending C-MAC, EPOS native MAC protocol, with AES capabilities that were used to encrypt and authenticate IP datagrams packets. Our authentication mechanism encompasses temporal information to protect the network against replay attacks. The prototype implementation was assessed for processing, memory, and energy consumption with positive results.