Crypto chip keeps water flowing in rural communities

Twisthink has integrated Microchip’s ATECC608B crypto chip into an IoT pump sensor for non-profit organisation charity: water, thereby enabling secure, reliable and scalable cloud connectivity.

The challenge

More than 50,000 wells across 28 countries required monitoring to sustain long-term access to clean water. Manual maintenance can cause weeks or months of downtime, leaving communities without access to safe drinking water. An IoT-based predictive maintenance solution required secure device identity, tamper-resistant credential storage and efficient cloud provisioning at scale.

Twisthink developed two IoT pump sensor designs (India Mark II and Afridev 3) to monitor pump health with capacitive sensing and cloud connectivity. At the centre of both designs is the Microchip ATECC608B CryptoAuthentication device, selected for its robust hardware-based security, straightforward MCU interface and streamlined credential provisioning into charity: water’s AWS-based cloud platform.

The ATECC608B provides a secure element that protects cryptographic keys and provides device identity. It has the ability to perform Elliptic Curve Cryptography operations for authentication and key agreement, as well as Advanced Encryption Standard for data encryption, which is a fundamental feature that enables end-to-end data security.

Pre-generated credential files from Microchip allow turnkey provisioning process where the chips are pre-programmed with unique device certificates and private keys by Microchip, which drastically simplifies the secure onboarding of devices at scale.

The ATECC608B uses a simple I²C interface, which is a widely supported communication protocol on most microcontrollers. This low pin count and straightforward communication bus minimises the need for complex external circuitry, simplifying the bill of materials and the overall circuit board layout.

Industry impact and use-cases

With the crypto chip integrated, Twisthink’s IoT sensors securely capture 13+ million water samples daily, transmitting authenticated telemetry to the cloud. The secure hardware foundation minimises cost and electronics complexity, accelerates compliance with IoT security best practices and supports more than 10 years of field operation at just 2% of total pump cost. Beyond water access, this architecture is applicable to industrial monitoring, grid energy systems and any IoT deployment where secure provisioning and long-lifecycle reliability are critical.

Image credit: iStock.com/Alongkot Kamphetch