Harris Corporation

Exelis Inc.

Michael Dean Collins

Lee Noehring

Kevin J Osugi

Nhu-Ha Yup

Bryan Doi

Methods and systems are provided for a programmable parallel computation and data manipulation accelerator that may be used, for example, in cryptographic calculations. They allow acceleration of a broad variety of cryptographic algorithms and/or portions of algorithms, and are not algorithm specific. This system comprises a butterfly and inverse butterfly multiplexing permuter network and a lookup table. This system may allow replication of input registers, 'expansion,' so that an individual bit may be used in multiple calculations in parallel, accelerating completion of the cryptographic algorithm. The system may allow 'diffusion' of the expanded bits through the system's butterfly and inverse butterfly network, and may provide for &#x201c;confusion&#x201d; of the resulting bits through the system's lookup table. In some implementations, the system may allow completion of a computation within an algorithm within one clock cycle.

Method and system for a programmable parallel computation and data manipulation accelerator

A firmware cipher component is provided which can be configured and programmed to efficiently implement a broad range of cryptographic ciphers while accelerating their processing. This firmware cipher component allows an ASIC to support multiple cipher algorithms while accelerating the operations beyond speeds conventionally achieved by software or firmware only solutions. This system combines cryptographic specific custom instructions with hardware based data manipulation accelerators. The cryptographic specific custom instructions and hardware accelerators may support both block and stream ciphers. Thus, the system may be reconfigured, allowing the cipher algorithm to change without halting the system. Further, embedding the Firmware Programmable Cipher within an ASIC may allow future capabilities to be supported in secure applications.

Growing community of inventors

Crofton, MD, United States of America

Michael Dean Collins