A secure self-reconfiguring architecture based on open-source hardware

With the new and powerful field programmable gate array (FPGA) families, new possibilities have been opened. One of these features is the possibility of reconfiguring a section of the FPGA while the rest is working. Moreover, this fixed part could be responsible for reprogramming the reconfigurable part, either because a change in functionality is required or because a new version of the hardware needs to be implemented. This paper shows how an FPGA system based on an open source OpenRISC 1200 microprocessor takes advantage of this feature to perform the secure download of the firmware and the hardware needed to run an application. In this particular case a Reed-Solomon encoder and a cryptographic application were used to demonstrate the viability of the scheme