Application-Specific Instruction Set Architecture for an Ultralight Hardware Security Module

Due to the rapid growth of using Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the daily life, the need to achieve an acceptable level of security and privacy according to the real security risks for these devices is rising. Security risks may include privacy threats like gaining sensitive information from a device, and authentication problems from counterfeit or cloned devices. It becomes more challenging to add strong security features to extremely constrained devices compared to battery operated devices that have more computational and storage capabilities. We propose a novel application specific instruction-set architecture that allows flexibility on many design levels and achieves the required security level for the Electronic Product Code (EPC) passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag device. Our solution moves a major design effort from hardware to software, which largely reduces the final unit cost. The proposed architecture can be implemented with 4,662 gate equivalent units (GEs) for 65 nm CMOS technology excluding the memory and the cryptographic units. The synthesis results fulfill the requirements of extremely constrained devices and allow the inclusion of cryptographic units into the datapath of the proposed application-specific instruction set processor (ASIP).