Fast and efficient implementation of lightweight crypto algorithm PRESENT on FPGA through processor instruction set extension

Abstract

As Internet of Things (IoT) technology becomes widespread, the importance of information security increases. PRESENT algorithm is a major lightweight symmetric-key encryption algorithm for IoT devices. Compared to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), PRESENT uses a lower amount of resources while achieving the same level of security. In this paper, we implement PRESENT with different design methodologies including hand-coded RTL, Vivado HLS, PicoBlaze, VerySimpleCPU (VSCPU) based microcontrollers, and a customized VSCPU. The customized VSCPU design is based on optimizing the instruction set architecture for the algorithm specifics of PRESENT. Our results show that the customized VSCPU design metholodogy can be more efficient than HLS and PicoBlaze while providing the flexibility compared to RTL designs.