Does anyone know if Embedded SSL or TLS has ever been successfully developed for 8-bit micro's? If so, where can I obtain some details? Thanks. Malan
I had a look at OpenSSL a while ago. It appears to have been developed for the desktop Internet environment and will probably require some fancy footwork to adapt it for a 'standard' 8-bit embedded platform. Thanks for the pointer & interest Malan
Just spotted this - no idea if it's any use for embedded systems, let alone 8-bit ones... http://www.openssl.org/
Interesting and useful debate from both of you. Thank you. I had a quick look at both Rabbit and SiLabs C8051F120. Both have impressive specs including fast 16 x 16 multiply and high clock speeds. Difficult to pick a winner at this stage though… The point is that I think you have both helped me make up my mind that I should rather use one of the more powerful 8051 controllers than attempting SSL / TLS on a clasic 8051 core. Thank you. Malan.
So maybe it does have something that a "normal" 8051 doesn't - even if it is a fast one! well the f120 has a MAC, that should halp some I am NOT advocating the use of a '51 for heavy arithmetic, just merely stating that it just might be possible. Anyhow WHY use a processor for which it is not available as canned code in lieu of one where it is. Today you can buy an ARM for less than a Rabbit and much less than some '51 derivatives, I would go there. Erik
"I see no reason that a "rabbit" which is 8 bits can do anything in a reasonable time that e.g. a SILabs f120 cannot do in a similar time." From the page that Dan cited: "... takes advantage of unique new block arithmetic instructions in those chips that speed up encryption/decryption considerably, making SSL fast and economical for small embedded systems." So maybe it does have something that a "normal" 8051 doesn't - even if it is a fast one!
Hi Erik You may have a good point. I'm not familiar with either. I'll have a good look at their register architectures and instruction sets. Thank you Malan
I see no reason that a "rabbit" which is 8 bits can do anything in a reasonable time that e.g. a SILabs f120 cannot do in a similar time. Erik
Thank you Dan I suspect that it is not practically feasible to implement SSL / TLS on 'standard' 8-bit micro's such as 8051 or 8052 since executing the computationally intensive encryption algorithms using 8-bit registers and a primitive mathematical core would make initial handshaking too slow and thus impractical. I'd be glad to hear if anybody disagrees… Malan
"where can I obtain some details?" Answering your question in a non-8051 and non-Keil way, http://www.rabbitsemiconductor.com/products/dc/DC9/modules.shtml#SSL
Hi Erik SSL is "Secure Sockets Layer" and TLS is "Transport Layer Security" used for secure transactions over the Internet. Thanks Malan
Does anyone know if Embedded SSL or TLS has ever been successfully developed for 8-bit micro's? I might, but since the above abbreviations 'SSL' and 'TLS' can mean 47 different things, I do not know. Erik
View all questions in Keil forum