Abstract:
Apparatus and methods are provided for the measurement of a power factor at points of interest, such as circuit breakers, machines, and the like. Accordingly, means are provided for measurement of a power factor for each electrical sub-network that is controlled by a circuit breaker. Each apparatus is enabled to communicate its respective data, in an environment of a plurality of such apparatuses, to a management unit which is enabled to provide finer granularity power factor profiles.
Abstract:
RFID tags were believed to be immune to power analysis since they have no direct connection to an external power supply. However, recent research has shown that they s are vulnerable to such attacks, since it is possible to measure their power consumption remotely via a completely passive attack. The method and apparatus of the invention protects RFID tags against simple and differential power attacks. The invention is particularly useful regarding inventory control systems or secure documents such as epassports. The basic technique is to use two capacitors embedded in the RFID tag in lo such a way that at any given time one of them is storing energy that is being generated by the charge pump of the tag that sucks energy from the electromagnetic or magnetic field of a tag reader, and the other one is discharging and powering the computational element of the tag chip.
Abstract:
A method for designing a high performance, small antenna that is matched to a required output impedance, does not require filtering, is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, and is easily integrable with an RF power amplifier- with minimum cost, minimum external components and minimum energy losses. The method includes finding a singular point (102) in the impedance vs. antenna geometrical dimension/wavelength ratio graph, the singular point (102) exhibiting a high very high positive reactance, setting the antenna geometry to match this point, and canceling the very high positive reactance (high inductance) resulting from this match by adding to the antenna a very small capacitance, preferably provided by at least one gap capacitor (202) The antenna is preferably a loop antenna (200), and both the antenna and the gap capacitor (202) (204) are preferably implemented by printing methods on printed circuit board or ceramic substrates. The antenna (200) may also be implemented in non-differential designs.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for protecting smart cards against simple and differential power attacks when they are inserted into card readers controlled by other entities. The technique is particularly useful in financial applications such as ATM cards, credit cards, and electronic wallets, in which cards have to be inserted into card readers which may be specifically manufactured or modified to perform undetectable measurements of the power supplied to the card during its normal operation. The basic technique is to use two capacitors embedded in the smart card in such a way that at any given time one of them is charged by the external power supply and the other one is discharged by powering the smart card chip. The roles of the two capacitors alternate rapidly, and the power supply is detached from the smart card chip in the sense that external power measurements do not reveal information about its internal operations.
Abstract:
A well-known technique to discourage piracy of digital objects is to fingerprint the version each customer receives. The invention provides a novel way of fingerprinting the decryption functions given by broadcasters to their customers (usually in the form of smart cards). The main difficulty is to ensure that all the algorithms provided by the broadcaster implement the same decryption function, and yet to make it computationally difficult for a pirate who obtains a large number of such implementations to find even one fundamentally different implementation which is not traceable to a particular customer.
Abstract:
A new type of digital signature scheme whose security is based on the difficulty of solving systems of k polynomial equations in m unknowns modulo a composite n is proposed. The scheme uses a simple technique (called sequential linearization) for embedding trapdoors into such systems of equations.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for simple identification and signature which enable any user to prove his identity and the authenticity of his messages to any other user. The method and apparatus are provably secure against any known or chosen message attack if factoring is difficult, and require only 1% to 4% of the number of modular multiplications previously required. The simplicity, security and speed of the method and apparatus derive from microprocessor-based devices which may be incorporated into smart cards, personal computers, passports, and remote control systems.
Abstract:
A circuit tracer for use with circuit breakers equipped with sensors capable of sensing at least a change in the power consumption of the circuit and transmitting, preferably wirelessly, such information. The information is received directly or indirectly by a circuit tracer having a display, the display showing all the circuit breakers equipped with the sensors. Upon changing the load of an electricity outlet, such as a wall outlet, a light source, HVAC, pump, electrical machinery, etc., the sensor equipped circuit breaker provides an indication of such power or current consumption change to the circuit tracer. This allows the user of the circuit tracer to associate on the circuit tracer the circuit breaker with the specific electricity outlet. The association information may be saved on a central server or database for future use.
Abstract:
Method and apparatus for protecting RFID tags against power attacks by embedding two capacitors in an RFID tag and coupling to the RFID power extraction and computational circuitry to be operated so that at any given time during normal operation of the RFID tag one of them is coupled to the power extraction circuitry of the RFID tag and is storing energy that is being generated by the charge pump of the tag by sucking energy from the electromagnetic or magnetic field of a tag reader, and the other one is uncoupled from the power extraction circuitry of the RFID tag and is discharging and powering the computational element of the tag chip.
Abstract:
A wireless location system has at least one wireless tag to be located by the wireless location system, wherein the at least one wireless tag transmits two wireless signals having a known time relationship and having different bandwidths. A plurality of receivers is provided wherein a first receiver receives and processes a first of the two wireless signals and estimates a time to arrive (TOA) of the first wireless signal, and a second receiver receives and processes a second of the two wireless signals and estimates a TOA of the second wireless signal at the second transceiver. The plurality of receivers is time synchronized based on a common timing signal. A location server is coupled to each of the plurality of receivers. The location server receives the TOA of the first wireless signal from the first receiver and the TOA of the second wireless signal from the second receiver. The location server calculating a TDOA of the two wireless signals and estimates a position of the at least one wireless tag based on the TDOA.