FW_IP: A flexible and lightweight hardware firewall for NoC-based systems

Networks-On-chip are now more and more used to reinforce the security of their own systems. However, a NoC-based security solution needs to be secure, with limited overheads and very flexible. In this work, we discuss the flexibility of FW_IP that is a hardware firewall suited for NoC-based systems. We propose to enhance FW_IP's flexibility by allowing its reprogramming operation with new security rules on-the-fly. We also discuss the impact of this modification on FW_IP's hardware consumption and on its scalability.