Pai-Yen Chen receives Phase II Proof of Concept award
Pai-Yen Chen receives Phase II Proof of Concept Award
UIC Innovation awarded Professor Pai-Yen Chen a Phase II Proof of Concept award for his efforts to secure wireless devices using quantum physics. Phase II awards support technologies that have demonstrated promising feasibility and require additional development, optimization or validation to advance toward licensing, startup formation or industry collaboration.
His project, Non-Hermitian Cryptographic Primitives for Internet-of-Things Security, was one of three projects from over a dozen Phase I recipients to be awarded 2025 Phase II funding.
Internet-of-things devices collect and transmit data, including sensitive information such as location, health, and finances, via near-field communications (NFC) and radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. We increasingly use these devices in everyday life: items such as smartphones, key fobs, and doorbell cameras all fall into this category. These devices and their communication are protected by encrypted keys stored inside memory chips. However, these encrypted keys are limited in size and vulnerable to attack. Artificial intelligence provides easier ways to hack and clone these security systems using machine learning.
Chen developed a method inspired by quantum physics to protect these communications, creating a random and unique digital fingerprint for each device to provide an unbreakable encryption system. In a quantum state, precise measurement is impossible, and a range of measurements exist as a result. Exceptional points within these quantum states are points where the uncertainty is at its peak. Using these points, a secure signal can be established. Each piece of hardware is unique due to small variations in the manufacturing process, so each RFID device produces its own unique digital fingerprint.
Chen and his team conducted thousands of simulations and could not find two identical digital fingerprints. Their method passed National Institute of Standards and Technology randomness tests and machine-learning attacks. The technology is low-cost and versatile.
Since 2012, UIC Innovation has provided Proof of Concept Funding to enable the formation of startup companies, attract venture and angel funding, and advance applications for federal research funding from the Small Business Innovation Research program and Small Business Technology Transfer program.
Learn more about the other Proof of Concept awardees.