Reconfigurable and scalable security module of active RFID for security-sensitive applications

As a high-speed developing technology, RFID (Radio frequency identification) has been widely used in many fields, including several security-sensitive applications with high security demanded, which is usually ensured with a variety of cryptographic operations. Actually, not all the types of RFID system can provide the corresponding resources required. Conversely, the limited resources also impose severe demands on the security mechanisms. In view of this context, we propose a new security module architecture of active RFID system based on reconfigurability and scalability for security-sensitive applications, which is different from the traditional solutions of hardware-based encryption technique. The improved architecture can reduce the area and complexity of the security module greatly, and improve universality, flexibility and security of the whole system to mesh with the characteristics of RFID systems. In 0.13-μm CMOS technology, the core area of the improved security module is 175K gates at 54.24MHz with an average power of 93mW.