Sequences and Their Applications

Sequences have numerous uses in modern communication systems. They have found ingenious application to error-correcting codes, cryptography, and in particular to the design and analysis of stream ciphers, radar systems, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and modern third generation mobile communication. In order to avoid interference and to maintain synchronization between users in a CDMA system it is of fundamental importance to construct families of sequences with ''good correlation properties''. In cry ptography, stream ciphers are presently an important research topic due to their potential to offer encryption and decryption of data at very high speeds. Design and analysis of sequences combines advanced techniques from computer science, engineering and mathematics, and researchers from the Selmer Center at the University of Bergen have made significant contributions at international level to sequence designs, coding theory and cryptology for more than three decades. The Selmer Center currently c onsists of 12 researchers, 10 doctoral students, and frequent international visitors. The Selmer Center is a member of three European networks of excellence/projects. In this application the Selmer Center applies for funding for one podtdoctoral student (for 3 years) and one PhD student (for 3 years). The main activity for the PhD student and the researcher will be to focus on the constructions of new families of sequences with good correlation properties and to use the properties of sequences in the de sign and analysis of stream ciphers.