Comparison of FPGA-based implementation alternatives for complex algorithms in networked embedded systems - the encryption example

Field-programmable gate arrays provide a flexible and easy-to-configure implementation platform that supports the development of tamper-proof networked embedded systems. Many of these systems employ the Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm in order to achieve a secure mode of operation. Since this algorithm is of a high computational complexity, this paper utilizes various hardware-software co-design techniques for its implementation. These techniques vary in the degree of required design expertise, the degree of how (software) functionalities are implemented in hardware logic, and the achievable speedup, which is about 12 to approximately four thousand.