FPGA Implementation of the RC4 Stream Cipher using Artix-7

Authors

  • R. Ghayoula R. Ghayoula, Unit of Research in High Frequency Electronic Circuits and Systems, Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Tunis, Tunis El Manar University– 2092, Tunis, Tunisia
  • A. Smida
  • J. Fattahi
  • E. Ghayoula

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37628/jeset.v4i2.893

Abstract

The RC4 (for Rivest Cipher 4) encryption algorithm appeared in 1987. Its designer is none other than Ronald Rivest, one of the three inventors of the RSA algorithm. This algorithm is distinguished by its great simplicity and speed of encryption. The details of the algorithm were kept secret until a description, probably obtained by reverse engineering, was posted on the Cipherpunks mailing list in 1994. Speed and flexibility of RC4 algorithm are very fast, and due to these features, this stream-cipher is used in various security protocols and standards. A few hardware implementations were previously recommended in the literature with the objective of enhancing the performance, area or both. In this article, Artix-7-based RC4 stream-cipher is used for hardware implementation. Previous designs support fixed length keys, whereas the proposed system has capacity of varying length from 8 to 128 bits. Keywords: Artix-7, cipher, cryptosystem, FPGA, RC4, security

Author Biography

  • R. Ghayoula, R. Ghayoula, Unit of Research in High Frequency Electronic Circuits and Systems, Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Tunis, Tunis El Manar University– 2092, Tunis, Tunisia
    Ridha Ghayoula received the Dipl. Eng. in Electrical Engineering in 2002 and the M.Sc. degrees in Analyze and Digital Processing of the Electronic Systems in 2005 and the Ph.D degree in 2008 from Tunis El-Manar University, Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Tunis, Tunisia. From 2004 to 2012, he was a Graduate Student Researcher with the Unit of Research in High Frequency Electronic Circuits and Systems. Since August 2009, he has been an assistant professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Higher Institute of Computer Science of El Manar, Tunisia. Since may 2012, he has been a Postdoctoral Fellow in LRTS, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Laval University, Quebec City, QC, Canada. His current research focuses on Software engineering, FPGA, softcore processor, modelling and simulation, TDOA, DOA, phased arrays, smart antennas, direction finding, Radio-communication Systems, neural network applications in antennas, adaptive arrays and microwave circuits design. Dr Ghayoula has published more than 67 journals and conferences papers on Smart Antennas and Embedded systems.

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Published

2019-01-31

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2018)

Section

Articles