RFID Lightweight Authentication Mechanism for Smart Factories Based on Blockchain

Abstract

With the deepening exploration of Industry 4.0, smart factories are gradually replacing traditional factories with rapid momentum. In smart factories, a large number of digitally networked devices are deployed in a less-populated or even unmanned environment. Data security and fast access have become particularly important due to the automation and intelligence of production. As the environment of smart factories becomes increasingly complex, meeting the requirements for rapid authentication has become increasingly difficult for traditional authentication systems. In this study, a lightweight blockchain-based radio-frequency identification (RFID) identity authentication mechanism is proposed for smart factories represented by the medical device manufacturing industry by integrating blockchain and RFID technologies. Through bitwise operations, cyclic shift operation, and hash arithmetic, the proposed mechanism cannot only guarantee security between the RFID reader and the electronic tag but also requires less communication and storage to complete authentication. Thus, this mechanism is suitable for the environment of medical device manufacturing factories with a high-load operation of equipment. It helps further research on the data security of smart factories.