A Study of the Spatial Auto-Correlation of Memory-Based Physical Unclonable Functions

In this work, we examine the spatial auto-correlation exhibited in the responses of memory-based Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs). In particular, we examine the responses of an SRAM PUF, a DRAM decay-based PUF, and a disturbance-based Flash PUF. For the evaluation, we use three different metrics that have already been employed in the relevant literature for measuring the spatial correlation of other PUF responses. Our results prove that the examined PUF responses exhibit little, if any, spatial auto-correlation. Thus, these PUFs can be considered as security mechanisms of high entropy, which can be utilised to enhance the security of the Internet of Things (IoT).