The development of Side-channel leakage platform on Hub-75 LED matrix data transmission protocol

Large-size outdoor and indoor LED matrices are increasingly gaining popularity. The cables utilized to control these matrices commonly adhere to a de facto protocol known as Hub-75. However, to date, there is no research addressing whether Hub-75 generates electromagnetic waves during the transmission of different images, potentially causing side-channel information leakage. This paper focuses on investigating an embedded system that controls the Hub-75 protocol to identify electromagnetic wave signals emitted when displaying various images. The preliminary findings reveal that even with two different simple images displayed at the same frame rate, they can be distinctly distinguished. This phenomenon indicates a potential side-channel information leakage (EM-leak). In the future, further in-depth research can be directed towards understanding and mitigating the EM-leakage and implementing effective countermeasures for Hub-75.