Domain Specific Tools and Methods for Application in Security Processor Design

Security processors are used to implement cryptographic algorithms with high throughput and/ or low energy consumption constraints. The design of these processors is a balancing act between flexibility and energy consumption. The target is to create a processor with just enough programmability to cover a set of algorithms—an application domain. This paper proposes GEZEL, a design environment consisting of a design language and an implementation methodology that can be used for such domain specific processors. We use the security domain as driver, and discuss the impact of the domain on the target architecture. We also present a methodology to create, refine and verify a security processor.