LP-GALS-C: A New Low-Power Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous Architecture for Symmetric-Key Cryptography

Internet security protocols are commonly used to provide secure connectivity over public insecure networks. Encrypting traffic, authentication and validating packets' integrity are all services provided by network security. These services implement symmetric-key cryptographic algorithms. Architectures that implement network security not only have to meet high computing demands, but they also have to be flexible enough to adapt to changing cryptographic parameters and to respond to changes in security standards. Mobile and secure communication are likely to be key building blocks of the future communication environment. This sets another burden on cryptographic architectures to be power efficient. In this paper we study some of the prominent cryptographic architectures. This study led to the development of a new architecture for Low-Power Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous processor for Cryptography (LP-GALS-C). We provide a detailed discussion of the top level architecture and some of the composing elements. We also show the advantages of LP-GALS-C over existing architectures and the micro-architectural solutions employed to reduce power requirements. Key-Words: Security Processors, Globally Asynchronous Locally Asynchronous Architectures, Low-Power Design