EDA Implementation Traceability With Cryptographic Ledger Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Electronic Design Automation (EDA) implementation processes face challenges in verifying and ensuring the integrity and reproducibility of microelectronics hardware designs, particularly due to vulnerabilities from Advanced Persistent Threat Groups and stochastic behavior, which can lead to undetected malicious modifications during the design and implementation process.
Innovation Solution
A computer system is introduced to trace and audit the EDA implementation process by generating cryptographic hashes and digital signatures for each subprocess, storing them in an electronic ledger, and enabling reproducibility through a retrace module to ensure the integrity and trustworthiness of the final design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing verification techniques are used to verify hardware design integrity, then verification can be performed at a specific point in time, but the verification only provides a snapshot of trustworthiness and fails to ensure ongoing integrity throughout the implementation process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by generating cryptographic hashes and digital signatures for each subprocess of the EDA implementation process before the final design is completed. These cryptographic artifacts are created in advance during synthesis, placement, and routing stages, establishing a foundation for future verification without requiring ongoing manual intervention throughout the entire implementation timeline.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates cryptographic copies (hashes and signatures) of the design data at each subprocess stage. These cryptographic copies serve as immutable records that can be stored and later verified, allowing the original design integrity to be proven without needing to maintain continuous access to the evolving design files throughout the implementation process.
2Reliability
If comprehensive EDA implementation verification is performed manually, then design integrity can be checked, but the process is expensive and time-consuming with significant potential for error
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical verification processes with automated cryptographic operations. Instead of human reviewers manually examining design files for integrity, the system automatically generates cryptographic hashes and digital signatures using software tools, eliminating human error and significantly reducing the time and cost associated with verification while maintaining or improving reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The verification system performs self-service by automatically generating cryptographic artifacts during the EDA implementation subprocesses. The system validates its own design integrity through automated hashing and signing operations without requiring external manual verification, enabling the design process to verify itself efficiently and continuously.
3Reliability
If the EDA implementation process is traced and audited with cryptographic hashes and digital signatures for each subprocess, then traceability and auditability are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the EDA implementation process into distinct subprocesses (synthesis, placement, routing) and generating separate cryptographic hashes and signatures for each stage. This segmentation allows verification to be performed on individual subprocess outputs independently, making the complex verification process more manageable and traceable while maintaining overall system reliability.
4Reliability
If an electronic ledger is used to store cryptographic hashes and digital signatures for reproducible builds, then reproducibility is ensured, but the loss of information increases due to additional data storage requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates compact cryptographic copies (hash values and digital signatures) of the design data and stores them in an electronic ledger. These cryptographic copies are highly compressed representations that verify design integrity without requiring storage of the entire design dataset, minimizing information overhead while ensuring reproducibility. The ledger stores only essential verification data rather than complete design files.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer system traces an original electronic design automation (EDA) implementation process for electronic hardware designs. The original EDA implementation process includes multiple subprocesses to convert a hardware model to a physically-realized electronic circuit. The system inputs a cryptographic key and design information that includes the hardware model, constraints, properties, implementation settings, and other directives for directing the conversion. The cryptographic key and design information are processed to generate a sequence of instructions to execute and provide traceability of each subprocess. For each subprocess, the system gathers intermediate design state and implementation settings resulting from or influencing execution of the subprocess; combines the intermediate design state and implementation settings into a data string and determines a cryptographic hash value for the data string; digitally signs the cryptographic hash value using a digital signature certificate derived from the cryptographic key to generate a signed hash; stores the signed hash and identifiers associated with data files used for determining the cryptographic hash value to an electronic ledger to generate an updated electronic ledger; authenticates the signed hash from the electronic ledger to generate an authenticated signed hash; reconstructs a hash from the data files stored in the electronic ledger to generate a reconstructed hash; compares the authenticated signed hash with the reconstructed hash, and in response to a mismatch, generates an error signal. The steps are repeated for each subsequent subprocess, and the traced EDA implementation process results are stored in memory.