Modified Berlekamp-Massey Algorithm for Approximating the k-Error Linear Complexity of Binary Sequences

Abstract

Some cryptographical applications use pseudorandom sequences and require that the sequences are secure in the sense that they cannot be recovered by only knowing a small amount of consecutive terms. Such sequences should therefore have a large linear complexity and also a large k-error linear complexity. Efficient algorithms for computing the k-error linear complexity of a sequence only exist for sequences of period equal to a power of the characteristic of the field. It is therefore useful to find a general and efficient algorithm to compute a good approximation of the k-error linear complexity. We show that the Berlekamp-Massey Algorithm, which computes the linear complexity of a sequence, can be adapted to approximate the k-error linear complexity profile for a general sequence over a finite field. While the complexity of this algorithm is still exponential, it is considerably more efficient than the exhaustive search.