CAPUF: Design of a configurable circular arbiter PUF with enhanced security and hardware efficiency

Abstract

Conventional security systems incur considerable computational resources, which become a significant hindrance for resource constraints internet of things (IoT) and wireless sensor network applications. Downsizing the existing security processes necessitates demand for lightweight cryptography for a secure system. The Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) extracts the uncontrollable randomness in the physical variation of integrated circuits (ICs). It is now proven to be promising security primitive for many hardware security applications, including authentication and anti-counterfeiting. The Arbiter PUF (APUF) provides a viable solution with minimal design overhead. This work proposes a new PUF variant, the Configurable Circular Arbiter PUF (CAPUF), for hardware security applications. In the CAPUF, the position of switches in an APUF are selectively altered to amalgam non-linearity and Strict Avalanche Criterion (SAC) properties, which enhances its security at low design overhead. An important feature of the CAPUF is that it is configurable, and this flexibility gives it a considerable advantage over many existing PUF variants. Simulation results and statistical analyses establish that the CAPUF outperforms the existing APUF variants through a combination of cost-effective architecture, SAC property, adequate modeling robustness, and the trade-off between security and hardware overhead.