A Security and NFC Enhanced Wireless Sensor Network Node

We propose to use asymmetric public-key based encryption in large scale and widespread wireless sensor networks. In this work, we show that asymmetric public-key encryption can be implemented time and power efficiently on hardware constrained wireless sensor nodes. To achieve efficient publickey encryption, we combine a sensor node processor unit with a sophisticated near field communication (NFC) cryptographic coprocessor. This type of cryptographic coprocessor has a lowpower hardware accelerated cryptographic unit that is typically used in contactless cryptographic smart cards. The NFC interface also provides a secured wireless link. We beneficially exploit this characteristic to implement a device authorization scheme for out-of-band network configuration like pairing and device identification number assignment.