Left invertibility, flatness and identifiability of switched linear dynamical systems: a framework for cryptographic applications

Phuoc Vo Tan (1) , Gilles Millérioux (1) , Jamal Daafouz (1)

1 CRAN - Centre de Recherche en Automatique de Nancy

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the potential interest of the control theory framework for cryptographic applications. It is shown that under the properties of left invertibility and flatness, dynamical systems are structurally equivalent to some specific cryptographic primitives called self-synchronising stream ciphers. After having motivated the interest of considering hybrid systems for such ciphers, the development is particularised for the special class of switched linear systems. We also show that identifiability is a necessary condition for security, and we describe an identification procedure as a possible attack and assess its complexity.

Mots clés: left invertibility; flatness; identifiability; identification; secure communications

Domaines: Automatique / Robotique; Optimisation et contrôle [math.OC]

Phuoc Vo Tan, Gilles Millérioux, Jamal Daafouz. Left invertibility, flatness and identifiability of switched linear dynamical systems: a framework for cryptographic applications. International Journal of Control, 2010, 83 (1), pp.145-153. ⟨10.1080/00207170903104190⟩. ⟨hal-00445929⟩