New concepts in mil-aero design

Well, would you drink something handed to you by a stranger? That is what some are doing when they take RTL code from their FPGA vendor, or get cores from some IP vendor. The MIL guys have to know what is in that FPGA. The telecoms? well, they couldn't care less about what is in their FPGAs. The only critical app in telecom is their billing system. They really don't care if the network has malware in it...they cannot afford to care any more. They are all in survival-mode. But, MIL apps must care..and must verify what is inside those devices. There are also many undocumented commands in the microcode of processors out there too....and in uP RTL code put into FPGAs. So, it's more than just malware to fear if you use these devices. It's a very dense minefield of potential problems out there, and all the FPGA users have big feet...

Sally Adee at IEEE Spectrum did a dynamite article about rogue code at the semiconductor device level in the May 2008 issue. May seem to be an overly-obsessive DARPA concern to some, but remember how people used to say the same thing about using firewalls and monitoring malware. I think tracking rogue code in any microprogrammable architecture is a necessity.

Loring...there is one fly in this ointment. As the MIL folks use more FPGAs, there is the possibility that the FPGA vendor code (or some outside cores put in the device) could contain "rogue code"...that would halt a weapons system from firing at the proper time...or it could give away some secrets via radio when that RTL code cranks-up and runs (under certain conditions). Darpa called me up and asked about this possibility a few months back and how all cores factory-installed or bought from outside vendors could be verified. I found a company that does an RTL core that you put in the FPGA.... that monitors execution and will find any rogue code sitting around in the device code in testing...I can find that company if you like. With Obama's new initiative for cyber-security, this also applies to FPGA code in my mind.