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arXiv · 2601.20163

Reference-Free Spectral Analysis of EM Side-Channels for Always-on Hardware Trojan Detection

Mahsa Tahghigh·Hassan Salmani
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Abstract

Always-on hardware Trojans (HTs) pose a critical risk to trusted microelectronics, yet most side-channel detection methods rely on unavailable golden references. We present a reference-free approach that combines time-frequency EM analysis with Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs). By applying Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) at multiple window sizes, we show that HT-free circuits exhibit fluctuating statistical structure, while always-on HTs leave persistent footprints with fewer, more consistent mixture components. Results on AES-128 demonstrate feasibility without requiring reference models.

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Mahsa Tahghigh, Hassan Salmani. 2026-01-28. Reference-Free Spectral Analysis of EM Side-Channels for Always-on Hardware Trojan Detection. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.20163

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