Introduction - Libelium Waspmote v15 and Plug & Sense Programming Manual

1. Introduction

This guide explains the Encryption library features and functions. There are no great variations in this library for our new product
lines Waspmote v15 and Plug & Sense! v15, released on October 2016.
Anyway, if you are using previous versions of our products, please use the corresponding guides, available on our
website.
You can get more information about the generation change on the document
The new Encryption Libraries are designed to add to the Waspmote sensor platform the capabilities necessary to protect the
information gathered by the sensors. To do so three cryptography layers are defined:
Link Layer: In the first one all the nodes of the network share a common preshared key which is used to encrypt the
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information using AES 128. This process is carried out by specific hardware integrated in the same 802.15.4/ZigBee radio,
allowing the maximum efficiency of the sensor nodes energy consumption. This first security layer ensures no third party
devices will be able to even connect to the network (access control).
• Application Layer: In the second security layer each node uses a point to point encryption scheme with Meshlium -the
Gateway of the network-. This way, even the intermediate nodes of the network (the ones which forward the information
to the destination) will not be able to see the sensor data transmitted. Messages are sent using AES, (implemented by the
software library) ensuring complete confidentiality and privacy while maintaining the minimum resources of the node in
term of computing cycles and energy consumption.
• Secure Web Server Connection: The third security technique is carried out in Meshlium -the Gateway- where HTTPS and
SSH connections are used to send the information to the Cloud server located on the Internet.
A fourth optional encryption layer allows each node to encrypt the information using the Public key of the Cloud server. Thus,
the information will be kept confidentially all the way from the sensor device to the web or data base server on the Internet.
Note: The Encryption Libraries are part of the Waspmote API and have been designed to work solely on top of the Waspmote and
Waspmote Plug & Sense sensor platforms. More info at:
http://www.libelium.com/waspmote
http://www.libelium.com/plug_&_sense
- Transmission of sensor data:
Information is encrypted in the application layer via software with AES using the key shared exclusively between the origin and
the destination. Then the packet is encrypted again in the link layer via hardware with AES 128 so that only trusted packets be
forwarded, ensuring access control and improving the usage of resources of the network.
Figure : Communication diagram
"New generation of Libelium product
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Introduction
Development
lines".
v7.0