Abstract:
The electromagnetic fields are generated by electronic devices dictated by the laws of Electromagnetism.
These electromagnetic fields in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum disrupt the operation of
other neighboring electronic devices. This disruption is called Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI).
The physical characteristics of electronic devices like timing, power consumptions, sound acoustics,
temperature variations, electromagnetic fields etc., unintentionally leak secret information because
they are correlated to the data being processed by the elctronic device. These characteristics of
the electronic device are called side-channels. Side Channel Attack (SCA) make use of these side
channels to reveal the secret information. Side channel attacks are focused on the implementation
the of the algorithm and not the mathematical weakness of the algorithm. In Electro-Magnetic
Analysis (EMA), the RF electromagnetic fields around the electronic device are measured and used
for side channel attack. In EMA the origin of electromagentic field, the frequency spectrum of the
electromagnetic field and techniques used to capture the electromagnetic field are also studied.
The main purpose of the thesis is to design and build an experimental test bed for electromagnetic
analysis. The experimental test bed consists of a motorized 2D scanner, electromagnetic field
sensors and amplifiers. First, the theoretical background behind the origin of RF electromagnetic
fields around electronic devices and the dependency of the electromagnetic fields on the data being
processed is presented. Generic side-channel analysis techniques using electromagnetic field measurements
are discussed. Later, the construction of the motorized 2D scanner is explained. Then
the electromagnetic sensors built are characterized in frequency domain.
