An extension of Satoh's algorithm and its implementation

Abstract : We describe a fast algorithm for counting points on elliptic curves defined over finite fields of small characteristic, following Satoh. Our main contribution is an extension to characteristics two and three. We give a detailed description with the optimisations necessary for an efficient implementation. Finally we give the number of points we have computed on a ``random'' curve defined over the field Fq with q=2^8009.