Abstract
In this paper, we introduce a new method for watermarking of IP cores for FPGA architectures where the signature (watermark) is detected at the power supply pins of the FPGA. This is the first watermarking method where the signature is extracted in this way. We are able to sign IP cores at the netlist as well as the bitfile level, so a wide spectrum of cores can be protected. In principle, the proposed power watermarking method works for all kinds of FPGAs. For Xilinx FPGAs, we demonstrate in detail that we can integrate the watermarking algorithms and the signature into the functionality of the watermarked core. So it is very hard to remove the watermark without destroying the core. Furthermore, we introduce a detection algorithm which can decode the signature from a voltage trace with high reliability. Additionally, two enhanced robustness algorithms are introduced which improve the detection probability in case of considerable noise sources. Using these techniques, it is possible to decode the signature even if other cores operate on the same device at the same time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Xilinx, Inc., Next-Generation Virtex Family from Xilinx to Top One Billion Transistor Mark. 03131_nextgen.htm. Available at http://www.xilinx.com/prs_rls/silicon_vir/.
L. Boney, A. H. Tewfik, and K. N. Hamdy, “Digital Watermarks for Audio Signals,” in International Conference on Multimedia Computing and Systems, 1996, pp. 473–480. Available at http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/boney96digital.html.
J. Lach, W. H. Mangione-Smith, and M. Potkonjak, “Signature Hiding Techniques for FPGA Intellectual Property Protection,” in Proceedings of ICCAD, 1998, pp. 186–189. Available at http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/lach98signature.html.
Kahng, Lach, Mangione-Smith, Mantik, Markov, Potkonjak, Tucker, Wang, and Wolfe, “Constraint-based Watermarking Techniques for Design IP Protection,” IEEE Trans. Comput.-Aided Des. Integr. Circuits Syst., vol. 20, 2001. Available at http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/kahng01constraintbased.html.
D. Kirovski and M. Potkonjak, “Intellectual Property Protection Using Watermarking Partial Scan Chains for Sequential Logic Test Generation,” in Proceedings of ICCAD, 1998. Available at http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/218548.html.
D. Kirovski, Y.-Y. Hwang, M. Potkonjak, and J. Cong, “Intellectual Property Protection by Watermarking Combinational Logic Synthesis Solutions,” in Proceedings of ICCAD, 1998, pp. 194–198. Available at http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/article/kirovski98intellectual.html.
A. B. Kahng, S. Mantik, I. L. Markov, M. Potkonjak, P. Tucker, H. Wang, and G. Wolfe, “Robust IP Watermarking Methodologies for Physical Design,” in Design Automation Conference, 1998, pp. 782–787. Available at http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/kahng98robust.html.
D. Ziener, S. Aßmus, and J. Teich, “Identifying FPGA IP-Cores Based on Lookup Table Content Analysis,” in Proceedings of 16th International Conference on Field Programmable Logic and Applications, Madrid, Spain, Aug. 2006, pp. 481–486.
D. Ziener and J. Teich, “Evaluation of Watermarking Methods for FPGA-based IP-cores,” University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of CS 12, Hardware-Software-Co-Design, Am Weichselgarten 3, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany, Tech. Rep. 01-2006, Mar. 2006.
P. Kocher, J. Jaffe, and B. Jun, “Differential Power Analysis,” Lect. Notes Comput. Sci., vol. 1666, pp. 388–397, 1999. Available at http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/kocher99differential.html.
D. Agrawal, B. Archambeault, J. R. Rao, and P. Rohatgi, “The em Side-channel(s),” in CHES ‘02: Revised Papers from the 4th International Workshop on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems, Springer, London, UK, 2003, pp. 29–45.
A. Chandrakasan, S. Sheng, and R. Brodersen, “Low-Power CMOS Digital Design,” 1992. Available at http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/chandrakasan95low.html.
L. Shang, A. S. Kaviani, and K. Bathala, “Dynamic power consumption in Virtex-II FPGA family,” in FPGA ‘02: Proceedings of the 2002 ACM/SIGDA tenth international symposium on Field-programmable gate arrays, ACM Press, New York, NY, USA, 2002, pp. 157–164.
Xilinx, Inc., Virtex-II Platform FPGAS: Complete Data Sheet. ds031.pdf. Available at http://direct.xilinx.com/bvdocs/publications.
Digilent, Inc., Spartan-3 Board. S3BOARD.cfm. Available at http://www.digilentinc.com/info.
Opencores.org., Basic DES Crypto Core: Overview. Available at http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/basicdes.
D. S. Taubman and M. W. Marcellin, “JPEG 2000: Image Compression Fundamentals, Standards and Practice,” Kluwer, Norwell, MA, USA, 2001.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ziener, D., Teich, J. Power Signature Watermarking of IP Cores for FPGAs. J Sign Process Syst Sign Image 51, 123–136 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11265-007-0136-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11265-007-0136-8