Power efficient PUF-based random reseeding true random number generator

Abstract

In the present scenario, the major threat faced by electronic system designers is protecting the device or a circuit from the attackers and Hardware Trojans. Though there is a drastic advancement in the field of cryptography, attackers are finding out the alternative ways of attacking the device. One possible solution of protecting the device is through the usage of random numbers. The true random number generator (TRNG) is used for the generation of random sequence which does not follow any particular pattern or sequence which is a major advantage over pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs). Though the usage of TRNG is highly secure, there are other methods like reverse engineering which may be used by an attacker to break into device. In order to avoid such attacks, this paper proposes the PUF-based design which acts as an irreversible function and is included in the TRNG module. The paper mainly focuses on LFSR-based random seeding which makes the design truly random and produces an unpredictable sequence. An additional level of security to the device is provided by adding PUF. This work provides an irreversible function which is hardly possible to re-engineer, and it provides a completely random sequence, which is evident from the NIST test results.