Certificate-based encoding of gate level description for secure transmission

Modern system-on-chip design strongly depends on secure exchange of intellectual properties among various authorities. Since it involves large amount of data, the conventional message encryption techniques need improvised use. We propose a novel obfuscation technique for synthesised digital circuits that facilitates secure transmission. It does not need traditional cryptographic data encryption of the whole circuit, and thus requires significantly less time compared to RSA-based encryption. The encoding/decoding of the circuit is guided by a certificate generated specially for the circuit itself. The encoded description hides the functionality of the original circuit. The inbuilt integrity checking at the receiver enables in identifying any intentional modification. We propose two distinct approaches for certificate generation that allow a greater trade-off between the volume of data and the protection. Experimental results show that the proposed technique can withstand a variety of attacks from intruders.