Optimized architecture for SNOW 3G

Abstract

SNOW 3G is a synchronous, word-oriented stream cipher used by the 3GPP standards as a confidentiality and integrity algorithms. It is used as first set in long term evolution (LTE) and as a second set in universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) networks. The cipher uses 128-bit key and 128 bit IV to produce 32-bit ciphertext. The paper presents two techniques for performance enhancement. The first technique uses novel CLA architecture to minimize the propagation delay of the 2³² modulo adders. The second technique uses novel architecture for S-box to minimize the chip area. The presented work uses VHDL language for coding. The same is implemented on the FPGA device Virtex xc5vfx100e manufactured by Xilinx. The presented architecture achieved a maximum frequency of 254.9 MHz and throughput of 7.2235 Gbps.