FPGA based implementation of elliptic curve cryptography

Abstract

Elliptic curve cryptography is a public key cryptography technique based on the algebraic structure of elliptic curves over finite fields. It provides the same level of security that other alternatives provide, but it performs its process in less time, less memory, less computations and less power consumption. Thus it is suitable for environments with constraints like computing power, memory and battery life. Typical examples of such environments are: embedded devices, wireless devices and real time applications. On the other hand, FPGA is considered as the modern-day technology for building prototypes where the chip can be configured by the end user to realize different designs by programming logic blocks and interconnects. The hardware implementation of elliptic curve cryptography using FPGA enhances the system performance since FPGA technology is faster by nature and much more secure than software implementations. This paper presents an elliptic curve cryptosystem developed by programming Spartan 3E FPGA kit then tested by implementing Elgamal encryption scheme on it.