Provably Unclonable Functions on Re-configurable Devices

Potomac Research LLC and the Ohio State University have developed the Hybrid Boolean Network Physical Unclonable Function (HBN-PUF) technology under STTR Topic #A18B-T001, which has revolutionary security and performance attributes compared to existing hardware authentication proposals.  The HBN-PUF provides hardware authentication as a firmware upgrade to Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) processor cores and can be used to mitigate vulnerabilities in sensitive data networks (such as those used in the recent Solar Winds hack) as well as provide additional cybersecurity hardening for DoD applications of FPGAs (e.g., embedded sensor signal/image processing and software-defined radios).  The HBN-PUF was matured from TRL 2 to TRL 4 during the Phase I and in the first year of Phase II. While initial experimental results have been positive, there remain significant technical risks to successful transition of the HBN-PUF for DoD applications.  Based on feedback from SMEs, we propose a Sequential Phase II project that will: (a) test the HBN-PUF concept on DoD-relevant FPGA platforms at adequate sample sizes, (b) perform MIL STD environmental testing, (c) continue security and modeling analysis, and (d) develop customized error correcting codes. This project will dramatically accelerate the HBN-PUF rate of development and implementation by quantifying how the solution performs under DoD conditions and address many common technical risks associated with FPGAs, PUFs, and secure key management.