Physical Unclonable Functions for IoT Security using Free Software
Arnaud Durand, Jacques Pasquier · 2021
The IoT presents new challenges with regards to security. Silicon physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are a promising approach to provide unique identities or to generate cryptographic keys that are tied to a chip based on its physical characteristics. This paper explores three PUF designs that we implemented on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) using free and open-source tools. These tools include Migen, LiteX and the Yosys+NextPNR framework. All three designs are based on ring oscillators, which are not perfectly identical due to variations in the manufacturing process. The implementations are targeted to the Lattice ECP5 family of FPGAs, a low-power architecture ideal for IoT devices. Finally, the three designs are characterized using an automated testbench and their performance is compared.