A PUF-Enhanced Ring Oscillator-Based Authentication System for IoT Devices

This paper presents a novel authentication platform for IoT devices in wireless communication systems, leveraging physical-layer characteristics and Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) to enable secure, lightweight, and device-specific authentication. The proposed platform is made up of three main components: a frequency generation unit, a modulator unit, and a real-time demodulator/frequency detection. The first two components, embedded in the IoT module, generate unique carrier signals based on process variations ensuring that each device utilizes a distinct frequency set for data modulation. The frequency selection is made with a PUF response in order to be unpredictable by an attacker. The final component, a realtime demodulator and frequency counter in the master module, enables continuous authentication, verifying the legitimacy of the transmitting IoT module both at initialization and throughout communication in real-time.