Edge-Optimized Lightweight Cryptographic Protocol (ELCP) for Secure IoT Communications in Resource-Constrained Environments

Abstract

Security for communication in resource-constrained environments represent a foremost challenge as the Internet of Things (IoT) steadily expands at an exponential rate. The resource limitations of lightweight IoT devices make traditional cryptographic protocols ineffective because they require high computational and storage expenses. The proposed research presents ELCP as a new protocol which transfers intensive cryptographic operations to edge servers for maintaining data privacy alongside authentication and data integrity. The proposed framework outfits lightweight cryptography with optimal key management and secure authentication methods which reduces the computational processing requirements. ELCP offers swift data encryption through ECC and ChaCha20 encryption which results in fast key exchange while maintaining low power consumption. The protocol implements dynamic key renewal functions as a protection mechanism against possible security intrusions and enhances resistance against cyber-attacks. Various simulation tests alongside practical implementation shows that ELCP delivers effective security protection which proves its efficiency against present-day cryptographic models for IoT systems. ELCP delivers superior security through executable time compression and energy management together with latency optimization which qualifies the protocol as an ideal choice for IoT network security applications in healthcare and industrial automation among other domains. The proposed research aligns with the development of an effective security solution in resource-constrained IoT communications by advancing secure scalable IoT communication frontiers.