Open source approaches in hardware design have received increased attention in recent years; there are many promising approaches, but not yet industry-wide acceptance as in the software area. This project will further close this gap by developing a manageable and commercially easy to integrate hardware security module (HSM), the ‘HEP-HSM’, with a tool chain that is completely open source up to the ASIC. This is in stark contrast to current projects such as ‘Caliptra’, which does not aim for a completely open approach. We want to create a lighthouse project with a corresponding public impact, which will pave the way for similar follow-up projects beyond its direct usability and thus contribute to a chip design ecosystem in Germany and Europe.
To this end, research is being conducted into how an open, formally verified and easy-to-use basic HSM module can be integrated into the standardised HSM framework ‘Caliptra’. As Caliptra is currently based on System Verilog, its use and integration is almost exclusively possible with proprietary tools. This is to be changed as part of this project. DFKI will develop a manageable verification tool to make current progress in the area of formal verification of a SpinalHDL-based RISC-V core easily accessible to the open source community. During development, a later certifiability and maintenance of the DI-SIGN-HEP-HSM will be prepared to facilitate commercial use.
Partners
- Leibniz-Institut fül;r innovative Mikroelektronik (IHP), Frankfurt (Oder)
- Swissbit Germany AG, Berlin
- IAV GmbH, Berlin
- Hyperstone GmbH, Konstanz
- Hochschule RheinMain, Wiesbaden
- Ruhr-Universität Bochum
- TU Berlin
Prof. Dr. Christoph Lüth
