Hardware Reverse Engineering Tools and Techniques

The immediate goal of this work is to determine uses for different hardware reverse engineering tools, compare and contrast which tools correspond with desired tasks, and provide an outline to achieve hardware reverse engineering goals for students or entry level engineers. Hardware reverse engineering is the abstraction of information or design elements from physical components. In our research we will be using easily accessible and relatively inexpensive devices that can be broken down into individual components to provide a clearer understanding of how the different components in a system communicate with each other, and the data that flows between them. Currently, there are few resources available explaining the purpose of these tools. The paper's goal is to resolve this. The variety of tools and techniques is overwhelming and there is a lack of material and resources geared towards someone new to the field. The long-term goal of this research is to establish an introductory working manual utilizing the basic tools of hardware reverse engineering. The research and subsequent manual will be tested and designed for beginners. This research and manual will additionally provide the direction necessary to construct the early framework for standardized instructional material.