Stream-based cipher feedback mode in wireless error channel

Abstract

Block ciphers encrypt a fixed size block of plaintext at a time to produce a block of ciphertext. Stream ciphers encrypt stream data, such as voice or Telnet traffic, one bit or more bits at a time. The cipher feedback mode is a stream cipher implemented by a block cipher via multiple stages, and in each stage one bit or a number of bits of plaintext are encrypted at a time. In this paper, we study error performance of the stream-based cipher feedback mode in an unreliable wireless channel in terms of throughput. We model performance of the cipher feedback mode in terms of the probability that part of or the whole ciphertext can not be successfully decrypted, and the throughput by adopting the cipher feedback mode. We explicitly derive the optimal number of stages in the cipher feedback mode to achieve the optimal throughput, given an error rate in a wireless network. We also prove that for the cipher feedback mode, the whole ciphertext is successfully decrypted if and only if the whole ciphertext is successfully transmitted.