Exploiting the DD-Cell as an Ultra-Compact Entropy Source for an FPGA-Based Re-Configurable PUF-TRNG Architecture

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and True Random Number Generators (TRNGs) are both needed in the Privacy Preserving Mutual Autentication (PPMA) protocol, often used in IoT Applications to generate and secure cryptographic keys. Since to guarantee security of IoT nodes in an untrusted setting, t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Riccardo Della Sala, Giuseppe Scotti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2023-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10216294/
_version_ 1797736981688483840
author Riccardo Della Sala
Giuseppe Scotti
author_facet Riccardo Della Sala
Giuseppe Scotti
author_sort Riccardo Della Sala
collection DOAJ
description Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and True Random Number Generators (TRNGs) are both needed in the Privacy Preserving Mutual Autentication (PPMA) protocol, often used in IoT Applications to generate and secure cryptographic keys. Since to guarantee security of IoT nodes in an untrusted setting, the PPMA key and encrypted data must be located on the same chip, the concept of integrating both a PUF and a TRNG on the same device has emerged as a new security paradigm. Up to now only a few designs for achieving PUF and TRNG simultaneously on field programmable gate array (FPGA) platforms have been presented in the technical literature, and most of them show sub-optimal performance for one of the two cryptographic primitives. This paper presents a re-configurable design that is able to operate as an FPGA-compatible PUF+TRNG primitive, and relies on the Delay-Difference-Cell (DD-Cell) as the basic entropy source. A theoretical model of the DD-Cell explaining the PUF and the TRNG behaviour of the DD-Cell which highlights the effects of the routing connections on the FPGA on the performances is presented. The proposed solution has been implemented on the Artix-7 FPGA platform, and an extensive measurement campaign involving 32 FPGA boards has been carried out. Measured performances of the proposed PUF and TRNG primitives have been compared against state of the art PUFs and TRNGs, showing performances in line with the state of the art. The comparison against the PUF+TRNG designs available in the literature has shown that the proposed solution exhibits the best trade-off among PUF and TRNG performance, providing the most compact PUF and the highest throughput TRNG.
first_indexed 2024-03-12T13:21:47Z
format Article
id doaj.art-da2557a597ac450e99d3d44154e9854b
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2169-3536
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-12T13:21:47Z
publishDate 2023-01-01
publisher IEEE
record_format Article
series IEEE Access
spelling doaj.art-da2557a597ac450e99d3d44154e9854b2023-08-25T23:01:32ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362023-01-0111861788619510.1109/ACCESS.2023.330490110216294Exploiting the DD-Cell as an Ultra-Compact Entropy Source for an FPGA-Based Re-Configurable PUF-TRNG ArchitectureRiccardo Della Sala0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9990-4875Giuseppe Scotti1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5650-8212DIET Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, ItalyDIET Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, ItalyPhysical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and True Random Number Generators (TRNGs) are both needed in the Privacy Preserving Mutual Autentication (PPMA) protocol, often used in IoT Applications to generate and secure cryptographic keys. Since to guarantee security of IoT nodes in an untrusted setting, the PPMA key and encrypted data must be located on the same chip, the concept of integrating both a PUF and a TRNG on the same device has emerged as a new security paradigm. Up to now only a few designs for achieving PUF and TRNG simultaneously on field programmable gate array (FPGA) platforms have been presented in the technical literature, and most of them show sub-optimal performance for one of the two cryptographic primitives. This paper presents a re-configurable design that is able to operate as an FPGA-compatible PUF+TRNG primitive, and relies on the Delay-Difference-Cell (DD-Cell) as the basic entropy source. A theoretical model of the DD-Cell explaining the PUF and the TRNG behaviour of the DD-Cell which highlights the effects of the routing connections on the FPGA on the performances is presented. The proposed solution has been implemented on the Artix-7 FPGA platform, and an extensive measurement campaign involving 32 FPGA boards has been carried out. Measured performances of the proposed PUF and TRNG primitives have been compared against state of the art PUFs and TRNGs, showing performances in line with the state of the art. The comparison against the PUF+TRNG designs available in the literature has shown that the proposed solution exhibits the best trade-off among PUF and TRNG performance, providing the most compact PUF and the highest throughput TRNG.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10216294/Physical unclonable function (PUF)true random number generator (TRNG)metastabilityfield programmable gate array (FPGA)hardware-security
spellingShingle Riccardo Della Sala
Giuseppe Scotti
Exploiting the DD-Cell as an Ultra-Compact Entropy Source for an FPGA-Based Re-Configurable PUF-TRNG Architecture
IEEE Access
Physical unclonable function (PUF)
true random number generator (TRNG)
metastability
field programmable gate array (FPGA)
hardware-security
title Exploiting the DD-Cell as an Ultra-Compact Entropy Source for an FPGA-Based Re-Configurable PUF-TRNG Architecture
title_full Exploiting the DD-Cell as an Ultra-Compact Entropy Source for an FPGA-Based Re-Configurable PUF-TRNG Architecture
title_fullStr Exploiting the DD-Cell as an Ultra-Compact Entropy Source for an FPGA-Based Re-Configurable PUF-TRNG Architecture
title_full_unstemmed Exploiting the DD-Cell as an Ultra-Compact Entropy Source for an FPGA-Based Re-Configurable PUF-TRNG Architecture
title_short Exploiting the DD-Cell as an Ultra-Compact Entropy Source for an FPGA-Based Re-Configurable PUF-TRNG Architecture
title_sort exploiting the dd cell as an ultra compact entropy source for an fpga based re configurable puf trng architecture
topic Physical unclonable function (PUF)
true random number generator (TRNG)
metastability
field programmable gate array (FPGA)
hardware-security
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10216294/
work_keys_str_mv AT riccardodellasala exploitingtheddcellasanultracompactentropysourceforanfpgabasedreconfigurablepuftrngarchitecture
AT giuseppescotti exploitingtheddcellasanultracompactentropysourceforanfpgabasedreconfigurablepuftrngarchitecture