Performance Evaluation of MAC Algorithms for Real-Time Ethernet Communication Systems

Industrial automation systems become more and more open for vertical integration using standardized information technology from the office world and access to the field level via Internet (Internet of Things and Industry 4.0). To protect such open automation systems there is a growing demand for the availability of suitable security features. However, real-time communication protocols used in automation networks typically provide no security functionalities and automation networks are vulnerable to numerous threats. In order to protect open automation systems, at least the authenticity of transferred data should be ensured. Therefore, an analysis of algorithms suitable for authenticity protection of data transferred by real-time Ethernet communication systems is presented in this paper. This includes an analysis of these algorithms and measurement results for a typical embedded system used in industrial Ethernet devices.