Continue to Site

Welcome to EDAboard.com

Welcome to our site! EDAboard.com is an international Electronics Discussion Forum focused on EDA software, circuits, schematics, books, theory, papers, asic, pld, 8051, DSP, Network, RF, Analog Design, PCB, Service Manuals... and a whole lot more! To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

[SOLVED] FPGA or CPLD with hadware serial number?

Status
Not open for further replies.

hardware_guy

Newbie level 6
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
12
Helped
0
Reputation
0
Reaction score
0
Trophy points
1
Activity points
134
Hello.
Can someone tell me, what FPGA or CPLD ICs have unique, embedded, OTP, serial number.
SN, what can be checked by VHDL code. SN what can't be re-writed.
(new serial number for every IC)
I want to secure my design by using this option.

Best Regards
 

For Xilinx they have a thing called device DNA in the Spartan families. It is factory programmed so can't be modified.

For the 7 series you can always encrypt the bitstream and disable readback. Xilinx (and probably Altere/Intel) has documentation on securing their devices.
 
Thanks for the "device DNA" thing, I did not known that.

I'm planning to make electronic device, based on FPGA or CPLD IC.
I'm afraid that some Chinese "company" can steal my design, and start selling it ten times cheaper than me.
I want to use serial numbers, for protection.
I was thinking to use "serial number IC", like DS2401. I could buy a batch of these ICs, make a list of all SN.
Then, I want to include all valid serial numbers in to my VHDL code. All valid SN will be included in future firmware updates.
If this project will go huge, and there will be no space in FPGA, to remember all SN, I can just make several files, one for devices manufactured in 2017, one for 2018 etc.
Firmware will work only, if it reads valid serial number from hardware.
Even if my harware design will be 100% copied, still, it will not work with DS2401 IC, what is not included in VHDL source code.
And source code will never be release to the internet, only compiled files.

Anyway, I think that DS2401 is not a good protection, because you can connect the logic analyzer, read the SN.
Then, solder microcontroller, what will generate this SN instead of DS2401.

Therefore, I was thinking to use FPGA or CPLD IC, what have hardware OTP serial number.
In this case, I think, only way to clone my device would be to disassemble-reassemble the firmware file.
And that is harder than just creating a new device from scratch.
 

Hi. I decided, that I will just add one COOLRUNNER-2 CPLD in the system. It has read protection and user code. Main system will be build on cheap FPGA, without security, but COOLRUNNER-2 will be there, just as security IC, also it can handle some important peripheral functions, what don't need firmware update. Firmware update will include only FPGA firmware.

https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/white_papers/wp170.pdf
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Part and Inventory Search

Welcome to EDABoard.com

Sponsor

Back
Top