Authors:
Bernard McWeeney
;
Ilya Mudritskiy
and
Renaat Verbruggen
Affiliation:
School of Computing, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
Keyword(s):
LPWAN, IoT, LoRa, SCADA, P2P Communication, Payload Confidentiality, SDR, AES, Cryptography.
Abstract:
Climate change necessitates a transition towards renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind turbines. The integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) has been pivotal in achieving these advances, offering the potential to optimise renewable energy system performance and efficiency through real-time data collection and predictive maintenance. Prominently, Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies like LoRa are aiding this transition, providing IoT with extended coverage, reduced infrastructure complexity, and ensuring low power consumption. With IoT playing a central role in critical infrastructure, secure communication is crucial to protect against potential cyber threats. Maintaining the integrity of sensitive data relayed through IoT devices is paramount. We provide an in-depth analysis of payload confidentiality in LoRa point-to-point (P2P) communication within remote smart grids. We explore the integration of IoT hardware encryption features and the implementation
of user-controlled Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithms on ESP32. We propose a robust solution for secure P2P communication using AES cryptography on ESP32 with LoRa. It is feasible to integrate end-to-end payload confidentiality in LoRa P2P communication. This study offers secure communication in remote smart grids, valuable insights into trade-offs and potential security risks in implementing LoRa P2P in IoT applications.
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