Microcontroller-Based PUF for Identity Authentication and Tamper Resistance of Blockchain-Compliant IoT Devices

Abstract

Blockchain-based applications necessitate the authentication of connected devices if they are employed as blockchain oracles. Alongside identity authentication, it is crucial to ensure resistance against tampering, including safeguarding against unauthorized alterations and protection against device counterfeiting or cloning. However, attaining these functionalities becomes more challenging when dealing with resource-constrained devices like low-cost IoT devices. The resources of IoT devices depend on the capabilities of the microcontroller they are built around. Low-cost devices utilize microcontrollers with limited computational power, small memory capacity, and lack advanced features such as a dedicated secure cryptographic chip. This paper proposes a method employing a Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) to authenticate identity and tamper resistance in IoT devices. The suggested PUF relies on a microcontroller’s internal pull-up resistor values and, in conjunction with the microcontroller’s built-in analog comparator, can also be utilized for device self-checking. A main contribution of this paper is the proposed PUF method which calculates the PUF value as the average value of many single PUF measurements, resulting in a significant increase in accuracy. The proposed PUF has been implemented successfully in a low-cost microcontroller device. Test results demonstrate that the device, specifically the microcontroller chip, can be identified with high accuracy (99.98%), and the proposed PUF method exhibits resistance against probing attempts.