An efficient hardware implementation of SHA-3 using 3D cellular automata for secure blockchain-based IoT systems

Abstract Blockchain-based IoT systems combine the security and transparency of blockchain technology with the connectivity and data exchange capabilities of IoT devices, enabling secure and decentralized interactions in the IoT ecosystem. These systems rely on hash functions to enhance security and integrity by generating unique digital fingerprints (hashes) for IoT data, which are stored on the blockchain, ensuring immutability. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to optimize the SHA3 blockchain hashing algorithm using 3D cellular automata (3D-CA). Our proposed design is implemented on various Xilinx Virtex FPGA circuits. The results obtained in terms of area utilization, frequency, and efficiency demonstrate the potential of our design to effectively address the demands of blockchain-based IoT systems. Furthermore, a comparative analysis reveals that our hardware implementation offers competitive performance when compared to previous works.. To ensure security and validate output randomness, the design undergoes rigorous evaluation using the strict avalanche criterion (SAC) and the NIST statistical test suite (STS). The results demonstrate that the proposed architecture exhibits high sensitivity to input changes while maintaining robust resistance against cryptanalytic attacks.