Software Evaluation of Grain-128AEAD for Embedded Platforms

Grain-128AEAD is a stream cipher supporting authenticated encryptionwith associated data, and it is currently in round 2 of the NIST lightweight cryptostandardization process. In this paper we present and benchmark software implementations of the cipher, targeting constrained processors. The processors chosen arethe 8-bit (AVR) and 16-bit (MSP) processors used in the FELICS-AEAD framework.Both high speed and small code size implementations are targeted, giving us in total4 different implementations. Using the FELICS framework for benchmarking, weconclude that Grain-128AEAD is competitive to other algorithms currently includedin the FELICS framework. Our detailed discussion regarding particular implementation tricks and choices can hopefully be of use for the community when consideringoptimizations for other ciphers. (Less)