Data security and cryptography are growing concerns for the rapidly expanding information infrastructure. This project treats this emerging engineering discipline with a systematic exploration of the use of reconfigurable hardware. The research in this project will: develop arithmetic architectures for public-key algorithms on reconfigurable hardware; classify private-key algorithms according to the kernel functions needed in their implementation; establish a public-domain VHDL library of algorithms for both public and private key cryptosystems; and develop a board-level reconfigurable device for implementation of cryptographic algorithms. Educational activities will include development of material for teaching cryptography to beginning graduate students, inclusion of VHDL design projects in the undergraduate curriculum, and an exchange program for graduate students with a cryptography research group in Germany.
