Exploration of optimal functional Trojan-resistant hardware intellectual property (IP) core designs during high level synthesis

Hardware Trojans that have the capability to change the computed functional output in intellectual property (IP) cores, integrated into computing systems can be a vital reliability concern in the context of correct system operation. Therefore, determining an optimal Trojan-resistant hardware design architecture that considers multi objective orthogonal parameters such as area and delay is crucial. This paper presents a novel exploration of optimal hardware IP core design methodology with Trojan defense capability (i.e., detection and isolation) during high level synthesis (HLS) that provides isolation of functional Trojan in a system design to ensure reliable and correct functional behavior. The proposed methodology is robust and provides the capability to yield the correct output value using HLS-based triple modular redundancy (TMR) logic and a distinct multivendor allocation policy. Therefore, the proposed HLS methodology can generate an optimal hardware IP core/system-onchip (SoC) design with functional Trojan defense capability. The paper presents an overall flow of the proposed methodology along with a demonstrative case study on designing optimal Trojan resistant finite impulse response filter (FIR) hardware SoC design. Results of the proposed approach are evaluated in terms of design cost, convergence time, security and optimality analysis, and comparison with prior works. The proposed approach is able to generate fully functional Trojan-resistant optimal SoC designs with minimum overhead, as evident from optimality analysis and design cost.