Efficient Hardware Accelerator for IPSec Based on Partial Reconfiguration on Xilinx FPGAs

Abstract—In this paper we present a practical low-end embed-ded system solution for Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) imple-mented on the smallest Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device in the Virtex 4 family. The proposed solution supports the three main IPSec protocols: Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP), Authentication Header (AH) and Internet Key Exchange (IKE). This system uses efficiently hardware-software co-design and partial reconfiguration techniques. Thanks to utilization of both methods we were able to save a significant portion of hardware resources with a relatively small penalty in terms of performance. In this work we propose a division of the basic mechanisms of IPSec protocols, namely cryptographic algorithms and their modes of operation to be implemented either in software or hardware. Through this, we were able to combine the high performance offered by a hardware solution with the flexibility of a software implementation. We show that a typical IPSec protocol configuration can be combined with Partial Reconfiguration techniques in order to efficiently utilize hardware resources. Index Terms—Partial reconfiguration; IPSec; Xilinx FPGA I

Treatment of focal degenerative cartilage defects with polymer-based autologous chondrocyte grafts: four-year clinical results

INTRODUCTION: Second-generation autologous chondrocyte implantation with scaffolds stabilizing the grafts is a clinically effective procedure for cartilage repair. In this ongoing prospective observational case report study, we evaluated the effectiveness of BioSeed-C, a cell-based cartilage graft based on autologous chondrocytes embedded in fibrin and a stable resorbable polymer scaffold, for the treatment of clinical symptomatic focal degenerative defects of the knee. METHODS: Clinical outcome after 4-year clinical follow-up was assessed in 19 patients with preoperatively radiologically confirmed osteoarthritis and a Kellgren-Lawrence score of 2 or more. Clinical scoring was performed before implantation of the graft and 6, 12, and 48 months after implantation using the Lysholm score, the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, and the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) score. Cartilage regeneration and articular resurfacing were assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 4 years after implantation of the autologous cartilage graft. RESULTS: Significant improvement (P < 0.05) of the Lysholm and ICRS scores was observed as early as 6 months after implantation of BioSeed-C and remained stable during follow-up. The IKDC score showed significant improvement compared with the preoperative situation at 12 and 48 months (P < 0.05). The KOOS showed significant improvement in the subclasses pain, activities of daily living, and knee-related quality of life 6 months as well as 1 and 4 years after implantation of BioSeed-C in osteoarthritic defects (P < 0.05). MRI analysis showed moderate to complete defect filling with a normal to incidentally hyperintense signal in 16 out of 19 patients treated with BioSeed-C. Two patients without improvement in the clinical and MRI scores received a total knee endoprosthesis after 4 years. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that the good clinical outcome achieved 1 year after implantation of BioSeed-C remains stable over the course of a period of 4 years and suggest that implanting BioSeed-C is a promising treatment option for the repair of focal degenerative defects of the knee

Lehren und Lernen mit dem Smarten Physiklabor

In diesem Beitrag wird ein neues Aufgabendesign vorgestellt, welches die klassischen Übungsaufgaben in der Einführungsvorlesung 'Experimentalphysik 1 - Mechanik' ergänzt. Zusätzlich zu den wöchentlich ausgegebenen Übungsaufgaben müssen die Studierenden experimentelle Problemstellungen lösen. Durch dieses neue Aufgabenformat erhoffen wir uns eine deutliche Verbesserung des konzeptuellen Verständnisses und der physikalischen Problemlösekompetenz der Lernenden.  In den Experimentieraufgaben dient das Smartphone zeitgleich als Experimentiermedium und Messgerät. Wir präsentieren die Integration solcher smartphonebasierten Experimentierhausaufgaben in den regulären Vorlesungsbetrieb. Des Weiteren wird ein exemplarisches Beispiel einer solchen Aufgabe vorgestellt. Den Abschluss bildet das Feedback unserer Studierenden sowie erste empirische Ergebnisse dieses Lehr-Lern-Projekts

Lehren und Lernen mit dem Smarten Physiklabor

In diesem Beitrag wird ein neues Aufgabendesign vorgestellt, welches die klassischen Übungsaufgaben in der Einführungsvorlesung 'Experimentalphysik 1 - Mechanik' ergänzt. Zusätzlich zu den wöchentlich ausgegebenen Übungsaufgaben müssen die Studierenden experimentelle Problemstellungen lösen. Durch dieses neue Aufgabenformat erhoffen wir uns eine deutliche Verbesserung des konzeptuellen Verständnisses und der physikalischen Problemlösekompetenz der Lernenden.  In den Experimentieraufgaben dient das Smartphone zeitgleich als Experimentiermedium und Messgerät. Wir präsentieren die Integration solcher smartphonebasierten Experimentierhausaufgaben in den regulären Vorlesungsbetrieb. Des Weiteren wird ein exemplarisches Beispiel einer solchen Aufgabe vorgestellt. Den Abschluss bildet das Feedback unserer Studierenden sowie erste empirische Ergebnisse dieses Lehr-Lern-Projekts

Development of a High-Throughput Screening Assay Based on the 3-Dimensional Pannus Model for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.The 3-dimensional (3-D) pannus model for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is based on the interactive co-culture of cartilage and synovial fibroblasts (SFs). Besides the investigation of the pathogenesis of RA, it can be used to analyze the active profiles of antirheumatic pharmaceuticals and other bioactive substances under in vitro conditions. For a potential application in the industrial drug-screening process as a transitional step between 2-dimensional (2-D) cell-based assays and in vivo animal studies, the pannus model was developed into an in vitro high-throughput screening (HTS) assay. Using the CyBi™-Disk workstation for parallel liquid handling, the main cell culture steps of cell seeding and cultivation were automated. Chondrocytes were isolated from articular cartilage and seeded directly into 96-well microplates in high-density pellets to ensure formation of cartilage-specific extracellular matrix (ECM). Cell seeding was performed automatically and manually to compare both processes regarding accuracy, reproducibility, consistency, and handling time. For automated cultivation of the chondrocyte pellet cultures, a sequential program was developed using the CyBio Control software to minimize shear forces and handling time. After 14 days of cultivation, the pannus model was completed by coating the cartilage pellets with a layer of human SFs. The effects due to automation in comparison to manual handling were analyzed by optical analysis of the pellets, histological and immunohistochemical staining, and real-time PCR. Automation of this in vitro model was successfully achieved and resulted in an improved quality of the generated pannus cultures by enhancing the formation of cartilage-specific ECM. In addition, automated cell seeding and media exchange increased the efficiency due to a reduction of labor intensity and handling time. (Journal of Biomolecular Screening 2007:956-965)BMBF, 0313604A, Verbundprojekt: Evaluierung eines interagierenden 3D Testsystems als Krankheitsmodell der rheumatoiden Arthritis (in vitro Pannus Modell) zur effektiven Prüfung von Wirkstoffen, Teilprojekt 1BMBF, 0313604B, Verbundprojekt: Entwicklung eines interagierenden 3D Testsystems als Krankheitsmodell der rheumatoiden Arthritis (in vitro Pannus Modell) zur effektiven Prüfung von Wirkstoffen, Teilprojekt

Vulnerability Analysis of a Soft Core Processor through Fine-grain Power Profiling

Embedded microprocessors are an important component of reconfigurable architectures. Fine-grain (e.g., cycle-accurate) power analysis of such processors has been used to improve power and energy efficiency, and detect implementation vulnerabilities, in embedded applications. However, such analysis is difficult to conduct; it requires either specialized and often expensive equipment, or construction of test architectures using disparate acquisition and analysis tools. In this research, we expand the Flexible Open-source workBench fOr Side-channel analysis (FOBOS) to facilitate exact time-domain correlation of clock cycle and device state to power measurements, and to perform power analysis on a soft core processor. We first validate the fine-grain power analysis capabilities of FOBOS through cycle-accurate analysis of power consumption of AES encryption running on a soft core processor in the Spartan-6 FPGA. We then analyze the results in the context of Simple Power Analysis side-channel attacks, and confirm power correlation of certain instructions with Hamming Weight or Hamming Distance of secret key bytes. Finally, we show that an assumption of a pure Hamming Distance power model for load-to-register instructions is not sufficient for this embedded processor architecture, and that power models using both Hamming Distance and Hamming Weight should be considered for Differential Power Analysis

Treatment of posttraumatic and focal osteoarthritic cartilage defects of the knee with autologous polymer-based three-dimensional chondrocyte grafts: 2-year clinical results

Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is an effective clinical procedure for the regeneration of articular cartilage defects. BioSeed®-C is a second-generation ACI tissue engineering cartilage graft that is based on autologous chondrocytes embedded in a three-dimensional bioresorbable two-component gel-polymer scaffold. In the present prospective study, we evaluated the short-term to mid-term efficacy of BioSeed-C for the arthrotomic and arthroscopic treatment of posttraumatic and degenerative cartilage defects in a group of patients suffering from chronic posttraumatic and/or degenerative cartilage lesions of the knee. Clinical outcome was assessed in 40 patients with a 2-year clinical follow-up before implantation and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after implantation by using the modified Cincinnati Knee Rating System, the Lysholm score, the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, and the current health assessment form (SF-36) of the International Knee Documentation Committee, as well as histological analysis of second-look biopsies. Significant improvement (p < 0.05) in the evaluated scores was observed at 1 and/or 2 years after implantation of BioSeed-C, and histological staining of the biopsies showed good integration of the graft and formation of a cartilaginous repair tissue. The Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score showed significant improvement in the subclasses pain, other symptoms, and knee-related quality of life 2 years after implantation of BioSeed-C in focal osteoarthritic defects. The results suggest that implanting BioSeed-C is an effective treatment option for the regeneration of posttraumatic and/or osteoarthritic defects of the knee

Face-off between the CAESAR Lightweight Finalists: ACORN vs. Ascon

Authenticated ciphers potentially provide resource savings and security improvements over the joint use of secret-key ciphers and message authentication codes. The CAESAR competition has aimed to choose the most suitable authenticated ciphers for several categories of applications, including a lightweight use case, for which the primary criteria are performance in resource-constrained devices, and ease of protection against side channel attacks (SCA). In March 2018, two of the candidates from this category, ACORN and Ascon, were selected as CAESAR contest finalists. In this research, we compare two SCA-resistant FPGA implementations of ACORN and Ascon, where one set of implementations has area consumption nearly equivalent to the defacto standard AES-GCM, and the other set has throughput (TP) close to that of AES-GCM. The results show that protected implementations of ACORN and Ascon, with area consumption less than but close to AES-GCM, have 23.3 and 2.5 times, respectively, the TP of AES-GCM. Likewise, implementations of ACORN and Ascon with TP greater than but close to AES-GCM, consume 18 percent and 74 percent of the area, respectively, of AES-GCM

Improved Lightweight Implementations of CAESAR Authenticated Ciphers

Authenticated ciphers offer potential benefits to resource-constrained devices in the Internet of Things (IoT). The CAESAR competition seeks optimal authenticated ciphers based on several criteria, including performance in resource-constrained (i.e., low-area, low-power, and low-energy) hardware. Although the competition specified a ”lightweight” use case for Round 3, most hardware submissions to Round 3 were not lightweight implementations, in that they employed architectures optimized for best throughput-to-area (TP/A) ratio, and used the Pre- and PostProcessor modules from the CAE-SAR Hardware (HW) Development Package designed for high-speed applications. In this research, we provide true lightweight implementations of selected ciphers (ACORN, NORX, CLOC-AES, SILC-AES, and SILC-LED). These implementations use an improved version of the CAESAR HW DevelopmentPackage designed for lightweight applications, and are fully compliant with the CAESAR HW Application programming interface for Authenticated Ciphers. Our lightweight implementations achieve an average of 55% reduction in area and40% reduction in power compared to their corresponding high-speed versions. Although the average energy per bit of lightweight ciphers increases by a factor of 3.6, the lightweight version of NORX actually uses 47% less energy per bit than its corresponding high-speed implementation

A Lightweight Implementation of Saber Resistant Against Side-Channel Attacks

The field of post-quantum cryptography aims to develop and analyze algorithms that can withstand classical and quantum cryptanalysis. The NIST PQC standardization process, now in its third round, specifies ease of protection against side-channel analysis as an important selection criterion. In this work, we develop and validate a masked hardware implementation of Saber key encapsulation mechanism, a third-round NIST PQC finalist. We first design a baseline lightweight hardware architecture of Saber and then apply side-channel countermeasures. Our protected hardware implementation is significantly faster than previously reported protected software and software/hardware co-design implementations. Additionally, applying side-channel countermeasures to our baseline design incurs approximately 2.9x and 1.4x penalty in terms of the number of LUTs and latency, respectively, in modern FPGAs