SecureRF and Intel collaboration delivers future-proof FPGA security solutions

SecureRF and Intel Corporation are collaborating to provide engineers with quantum-resistant authentication and data protection solutions for Intel FPGA-based Internet of Things (IoT) projects. The first security toolkit, available now, addresses Intel’s DE10-Nano development board, an ideal platform for developers who require design flexibility, performance, and expanded I/O options, when creating innovative applications for the IoT. To support fast and easy implementation, SecureRF is providing a complete SDK and has authored a technical article on authenticating remote devices with a Cyclone® V System-on-Chip (SoC) FPGA that can now be found on the Intel Developer Zone website.

Intel FPGA-SoC devices are well suited for a wide variety of functions, including acting as an IoT gateway that can authenticate and control hundreds of remote endpoints. Low-resource endpoints, often running on 8- or 16-bit processors, limit the options for strong security that must also run on an IoT gateway. Legacy security methods such as ECC are computationally too expensive.

SecureRF’s security toolkit includes Ironwood™ Key Agreement Protocol (Ironwood KAP) and Walnut Digital Signature Algorithm (WalnutDSA™), which are designed to run on the smallest processors. Based on Group Theoretic Cryptography methods, SecureRF’s solutions are up to 60 times more efficient than ECC, consume up to 140 times less energy, and are quantum-resistant to all known attacks.

“Authentication and secure control of a device entering the IoT is not only a privacy issue, but it is quickly becoming a safety concern too. Many of these small processors are now controlling critical functions in cars, and other types of machines that interact with people every day, and our solutions are focused on creating a trusted environment,” noted Louis Parks, CEO of SecureRF.

Developers can download an SD card image of SecureRF’s security tools from its Security Toolkit webpage. The image includes WalnutDSA™ and Ironwood™, as well as three separate demonstrations showing the operation of the signature algorithm and the key agreement protocol.

Louis Parks

Ironwood™ enables two endpoints to generate a shared secret over an open channel, while WalnutDSA™ allows one device to generate a document that can be verified by another device. Both methods are implemented partially in software on the Intel® Cyclone V’s ARM Cortex-A9 and partially in the FPGA’s fabric. All the compute-intensive routines are executed in hardware, for better performance.

The DE10-Nano board offers a robust hardware design platform built around the Cyclone® V FPGA, along with high-speed DDR3 memory, a wide range of analog-to-digital capabilities and Ethernet networking. Delivering high levels of reconfigurability and flexibility for developers, the Cyclone® V integrates a high-performance ARM-based hard processor system (HPS), consisting of dual-core Cortex-A9 embedded processors, peripherals and memory interfaces, connected to programmable logic via a high-bandwidth interconnect backbone.

Further information about SecureRF security toolkits and the DE10-Nano board is available here.

To read SecureRF’s technical article on authenticating remote devices and to learn more about the Intel DE10-Nano, visit Intel’s Developer Zone website.

Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @IoTNow_OR @jcIoTnow

RECENT ARTICLES

Get a US$50 Amazon voucher for sharing your IoT brand knowledge

Posted on: March 28, 2024

We want to know what you know about the IoT space. Just 3 minutes could earn you a US$50 Amazon digital gift card!

Read more

Enhance EV charging performance with cellular connectivity

Posted on: March 28, 2024

Electric vehicles (EVs) are steadily growing their market share at the expense of internal combustion engine vehicles. The growth is fuelled by several factors. Perhaps most importantly, prices for EVs have started to drop as competition in the industry is intensifying. New players and models are emerging, prompting several established EV makers to lower their

Read more
FEATURED IoT STORIES

What is IoT? A Beginner’s Guide

Posted on: April 5, 2023

What is IoT? IoT, or the Internet of Things, refers to the connection of everyday objects, or “things,” to the internet, allowing them to collect, transmit, and share data. This interconnected network of devices transforms previously “dumb” objects, such as toasters or security cameras, into smart devices that can interact with each other and their

Read more

The IoT Adoption Boom – Everything You Need to Know

Posted on: September 28, 2022

In an age when we seem to go through technology boom after technology boom, it’s hard to imagine one sticking out. However, IoT adoption, or the Internet of Things adoption, is leading the charge to dominate the next decade’s discussion around business IT. Below, we’ll discuss the current boom, what’s driving it, where it’s going,

Read more

9 IoT applications that will change everything

Posted on: September 1, 2021

Whether you are a future-minded CEO, tech-driven CEO or IT leader, you’ve come across the term IoT before. It’s often used alongside superlatives regarding how it will revolutionize the way you work, play, and live. But is it just another buzzword, or is it the as-promised technological holy grail? The truth is that Internet of

Read more

Which IoT Platform 2021? IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide

Posted on: August 30, 2021

There are several different parts in a complete IoT solution, all of which must work together to get the result needed, write IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide – Which IoT Platform 2021? authors Robin Duke-Woolley, the CEO and Bill Ingle, a senior analyst, at Beecham Research. Figure 1 shows these parts and, although not all

Read more

CAT-M1 vs NB-IoT – examining the real differences

Posted on: June 21, 2021

As industry players look to provide the next generation of IoT connectivity, two different standards have emerged under release 13 of 3GPP – CAT-M1 and NB-IoT.

Read more

IoT and home automation: What does the future hold?

Posted on: June 10, 2020

Once a dream, home automation using iot is slowly but steadily becoming a part of daily lives around the world. In fact, it is believed that the global market for smart home automation will reach $40 billion by 2020.

Read more

5 challenges still facing the Internet of Things

Posted on: June 3, 2020

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become a huge part of how people live, communicate and do business. All around the world, web-enabled devices are turning our world into a more switched-on place to live.

Read more