An Implementation of the AES Cipher Using HLS
Rodrigo Schmitt Meurer, Tiago Mück, Antônio Augusto Fröhlich · 2013
The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is the main algorithm used to ensure security and privacy in several different applications ranging from massive data servers to small low-power embedded systems. Such embedded systems often rely on dedicated hardware implementations of AES in order to meet tight power budgets. In this scenario, C/C++ High-Level Synthesis (HLS) solutions are gaining acceptance as traditional hardware design methodologies can no longer match the strict time-to-market requirements of current applications. In this paper, we describe a C++ implementation of the AES algorithms and explore different hardware micro-architectures by using HLS solutions. We focus on describing the process of obtaining an efficient synthesizable C++ description form plain software code.