IPX-RSA: RSA Public Key cryptography accelerator
General Description
The modular exponentiation accelerator IPX-RSA is an efficient arithmetic coprocessor for the RSA public-key
cryptosystem. It performs the Ae mod M calculation and therefore offloads the most computer-intensive operation of RSA from the main processor. The RSA cryptosystem can be used for public key encryption, decryption and signature/authentication. It is currently the most deployed public key scheme and is used in well-known standards such as SSL/TLS secure internet access, IPSec Virtual Private Networks and S/MIME secure email.
The key advantage of the IPX-RSA IP-Core is its low footprint, thanks to an efficient balance between logic fabric and embedded RAMs and Multipliers.
Taking advantage of its high operating frequency, it is able of achieving a high throughput of modular exponentiations. As a result, this IP-Core provides a good compromise between processing time and resources compared to general purpose processors.
Other features of the IPX-RSA core are self-support and ease of use. The IP-Core needs no interaction with the main processor during computation and requires no pre/post computation of the base and exponent (A and e). It is also accessed through a simple 32-bit processor bus.
Resources
| Virtex-4 | Virtex-5 | |
| Slices | 520 |
280 |
| RAMBs | 2 x 18 kb bRAMs | 2 x 18 kb bRAMs |
| DSPs | 2 | 2 |
| Frequency | 320 Mhz | 350 Mhz |
| Throughput (2048-bit inputs) | 6.6 op./s (13.5 kb/s) | 7.2 op./s (14.8 kb/s) |
Key Features
- Low footprint
- High throughput
- 2048-bit length inputs
- Short exponent lengths
- efficiently supported
- No on-line pre/post computation
The IP-core targets the Xilinx Virtex-5 device.
Performances on other Xilinx platforms can be provided on a request basis.