The k-error linear complexity distribution for 2^n-periodic binary sequences

The linear complexity and the \(k\) -error linear complexity of a sequence have been used as important security measures for key stream sequence strength in linear feedback shift register design. By using the sieve method of combinatorics, we investigate the \(k\) -error linear complexity distribution of \(2^n\) -periodic binary sequences in this paper based on Games–Chan algorithm. First, for \(k=2,3\) , the complete counting functions for the \(k\) -error linear complexity of \(2^n\) -periodic binary sequences (with linear complexity less than \(2^n\) ) are characterized. Second, for \(k=3,4\) , the complete counting functions for the \(k\) -error linear complexity of \(2^n\) -periodic binary sequences with linear complexity \(2^n\) are presented. Third, as a consequence of these results, the counting functions for the number of \(2^n\) -periodic binary sequences with the \(k\) -error linear complexity for \(k = 2\) and \(3\) are obtained.