A unified architecture of MD5 and RIPEMD-160 hash algorithms

Hash algorithms are important components in many cryptographic applications and security protocol suites. In this paper, a unified architecture for MD5 and RIPEMD-160 hash algorithms is developed. These two algorithms are different in speed and security level. Therefore, a unified hardware design allows applications to switch from one algorithm to another based on different requirements. The architecture has been implemented using Altera's EPF10K50SBC356-1, providing a throughput over 200 Mbits/s for MD5 and 80 Mbits/s for RIPEMD-160 when operated at 26.66 MHz with a resource utilization of 1964LC.