VLSI architecture for an area efficient Elliptic Curve Cryptographic processor for embedded systems

Elliptic curve cryptography has established itself as a perfect cryptographic tool in embedded environment because of its compact key sizes and security strength at par with that of any other standard public key algorithms. Several FPGA implementations of ECC processor suited for embedded system have been consistently proposed, with a prime focus area being space and time complexities. In this paper, we have modified double point multiplication algorithm and replaced traditional Karatsuba multiplier in ECC processor with a novel modular multiplier. Designed Modular multiplier follows systolic approach of processing the words. Instead of processing vector polynomial bit by bit or in parallel, proposed multiplier recursively processes data as 16-bit words. This multiplier when employed in ECC processor reduces drastically the total area utilization. The complete modular multiplier and ECC processor module is synthesized and simulated using Xilinx 14.4 software. Experimental findings show a remarkable improvement in area efficiency, when comparing with other such architectures.