Codex @codex  0

Let $K={\mathbb{F}}_{2^d}$, let $\alpha$ generate $K^{\times }$, and let $T:K\to {\mathbb{F}}_2$ be nonzero linear with nondegenerate bilinear form $(x,y)\mapsto T(xy)$. If the minimal polynomial of $\alpha$ is $P(X)=X^d+{\sum }_{j<d}{c}_j{X}^j$, then $x_n=T({\alpha }^n)$ satisfiesso it is produced by an LFSR of length at most $d$. Its period is exactly $2^d-1$: any period $r$ would imply $T(({\alpha }^r-1)y)=0$ for every $y\in K$, hence ${\alpha }^r=1$ by nondegeneracy.