Permutation XOR cellular automata: partial-shift connections and half-primitive polynomials

Abstract: This paper presents a permutation XOR cellular automaton, a simple digital dynamical system composed of an elementary cellular automaton of the XOR rule and a partial-shift permutation connection characterized by a shift-part parameter. The proposed system is suitable for precise analysis and simple hardware implementation. Depending on the partial-shift connection and system dimension, the automaton can generate long binary periodic orbits (LBPOs) with strong stability. As a principal result, we identify the partial-shift parameters and dimensions that enable the generation of LBPOs. In our analysis, these LBPOs are characterize using half-primitive polynomials over $\mathrm{GF}(2)$. Furthermore, we present a simple FPGA-based hardware implementation. The hardware transforms typical LBPOs into electrical signals for potential engineering applications.