Abstract

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is one of the mobile systems that used in Fourth Generation (4thG) cellular networks. The LTE stream cipher algorithm is called Zu Chongzhi (ZUC) algorithm. The ZUC is a set of rules and is the core of the Confidentiality algorithm EEA3. This paper offers with improving the security of data transmission in 4G networks. Hence, an attempt to enhance the encryption and de-encryption times is done throughout this work. In this paper, the ZUC algorithm is upgraded by adding two 32-bit keys in the non-linear function layer. Upgraded ZUC (U-ZUC) is the core of the confidentiality algorithm EEA3 which is also upgraded. The obtained results show that the proposed algorithm exhibit good encryption and de-encryption times as compared with ZUC and U-EEA3 algorithms. All the algorithms presented in this work are simulated and tested by Matlab software ver. 2022b.