Elliptic-curve-based security processor for RFID
Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags need to include security functions, yet at the same time, their resources are extremely limited. Moreover, to provide privacy, authentication, and protection against tracking of RFID tags without losing the system scalability, a public-key-based approach is inevitable. In this paper, we present an architecture of a state-of-the-art processor for RFID tags with an Elliptic Curve (EC) processor over GF(2(163)). It shows the plausibility of meeting both security and efficiency requirements even in a passive RFID tag. The proposed processor is able to perform EC scalar multiplications and general modular arithmetic (additions and multiplications), which are needed for the cryptographic protocols. As we work with large numbers, the register file is the most critical component in the architecture. By combining several techniques, we are able to reduce the number of registers from nine to six in the EC processor. To obtain an efficient modulo arithmetic, we introduce a redundant modular operation. Moreover, the proposed architecture can support multiple cryptographic protocols. The synthesis results with a 0.13-mu m CMOS technology show that the gate area of the most compact version is 12.5 Kgates.
security processor rfid systems elliptic curve cryptography scalable hardware arithmetic and logic units public-key cryptosystems