New Reservoir Computing Kernel Based on Chaotic Chua Circuit and Investigating Application to Post-Quantum Cryptography

The aim of this project was to develop a new Reservoir Computer implementation, based on a chaotic Chua circuit. In addition to suitable classification and regression benchmarks, the Reservoir Computer was applied to Post-Quantum Cryptography, with its suitability for this application investigated and assessed. The cryptographic algorithm utilised was the Learning with Errors problem, for both encryption and decryption. To achieve this, the Chua circuit was characterised, in simulation, and by physical circuit testing. The Reservoir Computer was designed and implemented using the results of the characterisation. As part of this development, noise was considered and mitigated. The benchmarks demonstrate that the Reservoir Computer can achieve current literature benchmarks with low error. However, the results with Learning with Errors suggest that a Chua-based Reservoir Computer is not sufficiently complex to tackle the high non-linearity in Post-Quantum Cryptography. Future work would involve researching the use of different combinations of multiple Chua Reservoir Computers in larger neural network architectures. Such architectures may produce the required high-dimensional behaviour to achieve the Learning with Errors problem. This project is believed to be only the second instance of a Chua-based Reservoir Computer in academia, and it is the first to be applied to challenging real-world tasks such as Post-Quantum Cryptography. It is also original by its investigation of hitherto unexplored parameters, and their impact on performance. It demonstrates a proof-of-concept for a mass-producible, inexpensive, low-power consumption hardware neural network. It also enables the next stages in research to occur, paving the road for using Chua-based Reservoir Computers across various applications.