## Prompt	
Explain the core high-risk technical innovation to be researched and developed during a Phase I project.
NSF must understand what research and development is required and how this technical innovation differs from and is significantly better than existing solutions.
It may also be that the proposed innovation creates a new market.
In this case, why will it be adopted?
Describing features or benefits of the proposed technology is not sufficient.

The FBI estimates that more than a billion dollars are lost every year to credit card skimmers. Thevies steal card information and PIN numbers to steal from unsuspecting customers. Skimmers are esencially keyloggers. They steal the debit/credit card number along with they customers PIN or zip code. nKode is designed to stop the lose of information on the keypad. The users nKode is a pictographic passcode that can be entered either directly on the screen or with the keypad. Since scimmers can't see or record the screen, the pincode entered by the user is useless. Even if the skimmer could record the screen and process the infomation, an nKode can handle 4 observation before the skimmer could learn the nKode on the 5th observation. nKode can be intergrated into existing ATM/PoS(Point-of-sales) systems. nKode uses the same standards for hashing and encrypting as password/passcodes too. There is a $1billion dollar per year insentive to use nKode a a replacement for pins. A 4 icon nKode has orders of magnatude more entropy than a pincode of equvalent length......



nKode represents a fundamental reinvention of authentication through a dynamic, pictographic passcode system that eliminates dependence on traditional alphanumeric passwords or static biometric inputs.
At its core, nKode is a patented, keyboard-less authentication interface using a randomized, icon-based keypad. This innovation addresses a long-standing vulnerability in digital security—the reliance on memorized text strings that are prone to reuse, theft, and human error.

Unlike conventional systems, nKode leverages an AI-generated icon set assigned to each user, where icons are grouped and reshuffled across a virtual keypad on each login. The technical novelty lies in the backend use of transient, system-assigned values that are detached from what the user visually selects. This separation allows the system to change internal mappings without disrupting the user experience.

nKode's security is further bolstered by high entropy in user-selected passcodes, drawing from password entropy research that emphasizes the importance of randomness and resistance to guessing attacks. Research is still need to determine the minimum passcode length.  With a minimum set of 54 unique AI-generated icons and order-dependent selection, a 4-icon nKode has over 23-bits of entropy (exceeding the NIST recommendation of at least 20-bits for randomly generated memorized secrets). nKode complies with NIST guidelines by enforcing non-dictionary-searchable patterns, eliminating keyboard-based input (eliminating keylogger risk), and supporting periodic backend renewal without user intervention. When nKode is entered with a keyboard, the numbers entered appear random to keyloggers.

The platform uses multiple layers of security: dynamic reshuffling, ciphering of user inputs, renewable backend attributes, and passcode hashing. Together, these form an authentication process resilient to phishing, replay attacks, and keyloggers that is capable of functioning securely over unencrypted or degraded channels.

nKode’s architectural model enables a new market of secure, portable, and infrastructure-light authentication—extending MFA into environments (tactical, industrial, mobile) where traditional methods fail. It also offers a scalable and user-centric alternative for commercial applications like fintech, healthcare, and identity-first zero trust systems.