Design methods and HW/SW co-verification for the unique identifiability of electronic components

Motivation

In the future, we will have to trust even more electronic components in our daily lives, such as those used in self-driving cars or service robots. To be able to use electronics safely and reliably, we need to take a sovereign position in the global value chains. This includes the traceability of the functionality of the installed components as well as the security of supply. The VE-VIDES project aims to research and develop innovative methods, solutions and processes to achieve this.

Over the past decade, Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) have become an integral part of cryptography and authentication. They are based on physical deviations that occur due to limited precision in the manufacturing process. As a result, PUFs offer excellent properties for deriving circuit fingerprints.

Goals and Approach

The goal of the project is the reliable extraction of electronic fingerprints from reconfigurable digital circuits, so-called Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). An important feature of such fingerprint generators is their insensitivity to environmental influences. For this purpose, new methods are to be developed that keep the additionally required error correction as rudimentary as possible in order to keep the overall complexity of the realization as low as possible.

Innovations and perspectives

The design and verification methods, tools and test environments emerging in the project provide a basis for future development processes of trusted electronics. The transfer of the results to the fields of application of medical and communications technology and aerospace is planned.