A security aware routing approach for NoC-based MPSoCs

Malicious applications target Multi-Processors System-on-Chip (MPSoCs) to capture sensitive information or disrupt normal operation; therefore, security is now a design requirement for MPSoC design. Network-on-Chip (NoC) is a key communication structure to aid in the overall MPSoC protection. Firewall-based NoC protection allows data exchange monitoring and controlling according to the MPSoC security policy. Secure NoCs enable to detect and prevent a broad range of software-based attacks. However, complex security policies may turn firewalls costly. This paper proposes a protection technique based on the NoC routing algorithm. By manipulating the routing of packets, security zones can be built. Our routing algorithm prioritizes communication among paths deemed secure while guaranteeing deadlock freedom. We evaluate the scalability of the proposed technique using synthetic and real application scenarios, as well as the security of the proposed technique.