A 1 Gbps Chaos-Based Stream Cipher Implemented in 0.18 μm CMOS Technology

Abstract

In this work, a novel chaos-based stream cipher based on a skew tent map is proposed and implemented in a 0.18 μm CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) technology. The proposed ciphering algorithm uses a linear feedback shift register that perturbs the orbits generated by the skew tent map after each iteration. This way, the randomness of the generated sequences is considerably improved. The implemented stream cipher was capable of achieving encryption speeds of 1 Gbps by using an approximate area of ~ 20 , 000 2-NAND equivalent gates, with a power consumption of 24.1 mW. To test the security of the proposed cipher, the generated keystreams were subjected to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) randomness tests, proving that they were undistinguishable from truly random sequences. Finally, other security aspects such as the key sensitivity, key space size, and security against reconstruction attacks were studied, proving that the stream cipher is secure.

Chaos in the Real World: Recent Applications to Communications, Computing, Distributed Sensing, Robotic Motion, Bio-Impedance Modelling and Encryption Systems

“…Herein two main topics are discussed. One issue regards the hardware implementations of encryption systems [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26], whereas the other is related to the capability of chaotic systems to generate random numbers [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35].…”

“…In [21], a novel stream cipher based on a chaotic skew tent map is illustrated and realized in a 0.18 µm CMOS technology. The conceived ciphering algorithm exploits a linear feedback shift register, which modifies the chaotic trajectories produced by the skew tent map dynamics.…”

“…The conceived ciphering algorithm exploits a linear feedback shift register, which modifies the chaotic trajectories produced by the skew tent map dynamics. This enables the randomness of the generated sequences to be improved [21]. The implemented stream cipher is able to achieve encryption speeds of 1 Gbps with power consumption as low as 24.1 mW.…”

“…In Section 5 it is shown how chaos can give significant insights to the quality assessments of fruits and vegetables [17]. Section 6 presents some applications of chaos to the hardware implementation of encryption systems [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] and to random number generation [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], including the use of chaos for secure transfer of medical images. Finally, Section 7 illustrates how chaos-based logic gates can be used for computing [36], whereas Section 8 highlights how chaos can be exploited in neuromorphic applications [37,38].…”

The Establishment and Dynamic Properties of a New 4D Hyperchaotic System with Its Application and Statistical Tests in Gray Images

“…Recently, many scholars have generated many new chaotic systems on the basis of studying the Lorenz chaotic system, which are collectively referred to as Lorenz type hyperchaotic systems [ 39 , 40 ]. These new systems are applied to many aspects, such as chaotic synchronization [ 41 ], image encryption [ 8 , 12 , 13 , 19 ], stream cryptography [ 42 , 43 ], and so on.…”