A cryptographic processor for arbitrary elliptic curves over GF(2m). (6th January 2009)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Eberle, Hans; Gura, Nils; Shantz, Sheueling Chang; Gupta, Vipul
• Is Part Of: International journal of embedded systems. Volume 3:Number 4(2008)
• Page Start: 241
• Page End: 255
• Publication Date: 2009-01-06
• Subjects: cryptographic coprocessors -- public key cryptography -- ECC -- elliptic curve cryptosystems -- arbitrary elliptic curves -- security -- field programmable gate arrays -- FPGA; Embedded computer systems -- Periodicals; 004.16
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1741-1068

Abstract

We describe a cryptographic processor for Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). The processor performs point multiplication for elliptic curves over binary polynomial fields GF(2m) up to a field degree of 255. In contrast to other designs that only support one curve at a time, our processor is capable of handling arbitrary curves. We have implemented the cryptographic processor in a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) running at a clock frequency of 66.4 MHz. Its performance is 6955 point multiplications per second for named curves over GF(2163) and 3308 point multiplications per second for generic curves over GF(2163).