Cascading CMOS-Based Chaotic Maps for Improved Performance and Its Application in Efficient RNG Design

We present a general framework for improving the chaotic properties of CMOS-based chaotic maps by cascading multiple maps in series. Along with two novel chaotic map topologies, we present the 45 nm designs for four CMOS-based discrete-time chaotic map topologies. With the help of the bifurcation plot and three established entropy measures, namely, Lyapunov exponent, Kolmogorov entropy, and correlation coefficient, we present an extensive chaotic performance analysis on eight unique map circuits (two under each topology) to show that under certain constraints, the cascading scheme can significantly elevate the chaotic performance. The improved chaotic entropy benefits many security applications and is demonstrated using a novel random number generator (RNG) design. Unlike conventional mathematical chaotic map-based digital pseudo-random number generators (PRNG), this proposed design is not completely deterministic due to the high susceptibility of the core analog circuit to inevitable noise that renders this design closer to a true random number generator (TRNG). By leveraging the improved chaotic performance of the transistor-level cascaded maps, significantly low area and power overhead are achieved in the RNG design. The cryptographic applicability of the RNG is verified as the generated random sequences pass four standard statistical tests namely, NIST, FIPS, Diehard, and TestU01.