Performance measurements › arm_1 › kem-41 · system: x86_1 · arm_1

kem-41 ZEN — performance on AArch64 (system arm_1)

Independent measurement following the structure of the NICCS ARM self-assessment guide, §3.5 (1)–(7). Not a submitter self-assessment.

1. Basic information

Category: public-key algorithm; function: key encapsulation
Algorithm: ZEN
Implementation versions measured: reference
Parameter sets: ZEN_128, ZEN_256, ZEN_512
Security evaluation: kem-41 report
Measurement method: arm_1 method
Submission: NICCS page

2. Assessment environment

item	value
processor	Qualcomm Oryon (CPU 2, one core)
machine	ASUS Vivobook S 15
clock	fixed 2.71 GHz (governor performance, minimum = maximum), boost off, SMT none
memory	30562 MiB
OS / kernel	Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS / 7.0.0-34-generic
compiler / build tool	gcc (Ubuntu 15.2.0-16ubuntu1) 15.2.0 / cmake version 4.2.3
campaign start / end (UTC)	2026-09-28T15:05:46 / 2026-09-29T08:43:52

3. Functional testing (KAT)

Each library was checked against the submitted KAT vectors (SHA-256 manifest kem-41/kat.sha256 in the harness) before timing.

instance	build flags	KAT
`ZEN_128`	guide	PASS
`ZEN_256`	guide	PASS
`ZEN_512`	guide	PASS

4. Performance

instance	operation	mean cycles	mean time	ops/s	median trial	n (trials × iters)
`ZEN_128`	keygen	153.2 k	56.8 µs	1.76e+04	56.8 µs	43720 (5 × 8744)
`ZEN_128`	enc	122.1 k	45.3 µs	2.21e+04	45.2 µs	66950 (5 × 13390)
`ZEN_128`	dec	145.3 k	53.9 µs	1.85e+04	53.9 µs	56540 (5 × 11308)
`ZEN_256`	keygen	263.3 k	97.7 µs	1.02e+04	97.5 µs	27925 (5 × 5585)
`ZEN_256`	enc	152.4 k	56.6 µs	1.77e+04	56.5 µs	53040 (5 × 10608)
`ZEN_256`	dec	211.2 k	78.4 µs	1.28e+04	78.4 µs	36145 (5 × 7229)
`ZEN_512`	keygen	735.6 k	273 µs	3.66e+03	273 µs	12330 (5 × 2466)
`ZEN_512`	enc	425.3 k	158 µs	6.34e+03	158 µs	19600 (5 × 3920)
`ZEN_512`	dec	569.0 k	211 µs	4.74e+03	211 µs	14825 (5 × 2965)

5. Resource consumption

Static memory is approximated by the library's loadable ELF segments; peak memory is the process high-water mark (VmHWM) including the benchmark driver and libc, so both are upper-bound proxies rather than isolated algorithm memory.

instance	operation	static: ELF image (bytes)	baseline RSS	peak RSS
`ZEN_128`	keygen	34372	1428 KiB	1496 KiB
`ZEN_128`	enc	34372	1436 KiB	1500 KiB
`ZEN_128`	dec	34372	1440 KiB	1504 KiB
`ZEN_256`	keygen	39768	1436 KiB	1512 KiB
`ZEN_256`	enc	39768	1448 KiB	1512 KiB
`ZEN_256`	dec	39768	1448 KiB	1512 KiB
`ZEN_512`	keygen	46376	1444 KiB	1544 KiB
`ZEN_512`	enc	46376	1480 KiB	1548 KiB
`ZEN_512`	dec	46376	1480 KiB	1548 KiB

6. Transmission and storage overhead

External public-key, ciphertext and signature sizes follow the curated performance/external_sizes.csv catalog; secret-key and shared-secret lengths remain API figures. See the size audit for disagreements.

instance	public key	secret key	ciphertext	shared secret
`ZEN_128`	615	1303	512	16
`ZEN_256`	1229	2605	1024	32
`ZEN_512`	2458	5210	2048	64

Symmetric primitives

Survey verdict: ICCS-only

Share of each operation spent in the ICCS placeholder hash functions and in the ICCS DRNG (reference build, measured in the same run with link-time wrappers):

instance	operation	pseudohash/XOF/sm3	DRNG	calls per operation
`ZEN_128`	keygen	41%	6.5%	drng 2, pseudoXOF 3.05, sm3hash 1
`ZEN_128`	enc	74%	3.5%	drng 1, pseudoXOF 2, pseudohash 1, sm3hash 1
`ZEN_128`	dec	62%	0.0%	pseudoXOF 2, pseudohash 1, sm3hash 1
`ZEN_256`	keygen	50%	3.7%	drng 2, pseudoXOF 3.02, sm3hash 1
`ZEN_256`	enc	58%	2.8%	drng 1, pseudoXOF 2, pseudohash 1, sm3hash 1
`ZEN_256`	dec	40%	0.0%	pseudoXOF 2, pseudohash 1, sm3hash 1
`ZEN_512`	keygen	58%	1.5%	drng 2, pseudoXOF 2.93, pseudohash 1
`ZEN_512`	enc	64%	1.3%	drng 1, pseudoXOF 2, pseudohash 2
`ZEN_512`	dec	45%	0.0%	pseudoXOF 3, pseudohash 1

7. Raw evidence index

Paths are relative to performance/data/arm_1/ in the harness; each JSON file records its commands, environment and trials.

instance	item	file
`ZEN_128`	KAT log (sha256 `d512ed6722630117…`)	`kat/kem-41/ZEN_128.log`
`ZEN_128`	timing dec	`records/kem-41/ZEN_128__dec.json`
`ZEN_128`	timing enc	`records/kem-41/ZEN_128__enc.json`
`ZEN_128`	timing keygen	`records/kem-41/ZEN_128__keygen.json`
`ZEN_128`	hash profile dec	`profile/kem-41/ZEN_128__dec.json`
`ZEN_128`	hash profile enc	`profile/kem-41/ZEN_128__enc.json`
`ZEN_128`	hash profile keygen	`profile/kem-41/ZEN_128__keygen.json`
`ZEN_256`	KAT log (sha256 `8581e6db3ce27bc6…`)	`kat/kem-41/ZEN_256.log`
`ZEN_256`	timing dec	`records/kem-41/ZEN_256__dec.json`
`ZEN_256`	timing enc	`records/kem-41/ZEN_256__enc.json`
`ZEN_256`	timing keygen	`records/kem-41/ZEN_256__keygen.json`
`ZEN_256`	hash profile dec	`profile/kem-41/ZEN_256__dec.json`
`ZEN_256`	hash profile enc	`profile/kem-41/ZEN_256__enc.json`
`ZEN_256`	hash profile keygen	`profile/kem-41/ZEN_256__keygen.json`
`ZEN_512`	KAT log (sha256 `ffab40d5a99ad40d…`)	`kat/kem-41/ZEN_512.log`
`ZEN_512`	timing dec	`records/kem-41/ZEN_512__dec.json`
`ZEN_512`	timing enc	`records/kem-41/ZEN_512__enc.json`
`ZEN_512`	timing keygen	`records/kem-41/ZEN_512__keygen.json`
`ZEN_512`	hash profile dec	`profile/kem-41/ZEN_512__dec.json`
`ZEN_512`	hash profile enc	`profile/kem-41/ZEN_512__enc.json`
`ZEN_512`	hash profile keygen	`profile/kem-41/ZEN_512__keygen.json`

Scripts: performance/campaign.py, performance/ngcc_perf.c, performance/hashprof/ in the harness.