A symmetric cipher using autonomous and non-autonomous cellular automata
Banlue Srisuchinwong, Trevor A. York, P. Tsalides · 2002
Ciphers are applied to provide security for communications and data storage systems. A new, cellular automata-based, symmetric cipher and its architecture are described. Using 16 bit words through non-autonomous cellular automata (CA), the cipher can provide data rates of 320 Mbits per second at a clock rate of 20 MHz. By employing involutions, unidirectional data flow is maintained through the cipher. A 96-bit autonomous CA is used to store the secret key and this evolves as data are introduced into the cipher. Such CA techniques are conducive to VLSI implementation due to modularity, parallelism and local communications.