Overview
AES-GCM is an authenticated encryption algorithm designed to provide both authentication
and privacy. Developed by David A McGrew and John Viega, it uses universal hashing over
a binary Galois field to provide authenticated encryption.
GCM was designed originally as a way of supporting very high data rates, since it can take
advantage of pipelining and parallel processing techniques to bypass the normal limits imposed
by feedback MAC algorithms. This allows authenticated encryption at data rates of many tens
of Gbps, permitting high grade encryption and authentication on systems which previously could
not be fully protected. More recently GCM is being specified for use in lower rate applications
due to its ease of use and scalability.
AES-GCM is specified for use in a number of recent standards; for example it is one of
the options specified by the IEEE 1619 group for securing data-at-rest stored on tape media.
In networking, it is the security algorithm specified for use in MACsec (802.1AE),
and in the ANSI Fibre Channel Security Protocols (FC-SP).
Helion AES-GCM Solutions
Helion offer a broad selection of AES-GCM solutions, covering all throughput requirements
from less than 50Mbps right up to in excess of 40Gbps in any of the target technologies
we support. This allows the user to have a very well matched solution, without having to
compromise in terms of area or performance.
| Core type |
Typical Throughput |
Footprint |
| 218-cycle AES-GCM |
0 to 100Mbps |
ultra compact |
| 48-cycle AES-GCM |
0 to 500Mbps |
very compact |
| 19-cycle AES-GCM |
500Mbps to 2Gbps |
compact |
| Giga AES-GCM |
2Gbps to 40Gbps |
scalable |
The table above shows the selection of standard AES-GCM solutions currently available
from Helion. For the mainstream versions, the core name reflects the nominal number of
clock cycles taken to encrypt or decrypt each 16-byte block of information with a
128-bit key; so for example, the 19-cycle core processes each 128-bit AES block in
19 clock cycles, and has a throughput of 6.73Mbps per MHz.
The Giga AES-GCM core is a separate product, optimised for extremely high throughput
operation; please see the special Giga AES webpage
for more details.
All these high performance AES-GCM cores are available in versions for use in ASIC,
Altera, Microsemi (Actel) and Xilinx FPGA, and in common with all Helion IP cores they
have been designed with each technology firmly in mind to yield the very
best and most efficient results.
To find out how these AES-GCM solutions can be used in your particular application,
please contact Helion so that we can discuss the options in more detail.
Measured Area and Performance
48-cycle 128-bit key version - for low/mid rate applications
| TARGET |
PERFORMANCE |
LOGIC |
RAM |
| ASIC (0.13um CMOS) |
>800 Mbps |
<TBA gates |
- |
| Altera Cyclone III (-6) |
>430 Mbps |
1925 LEs |
3 M9Ks |
| Altera Stratix II (-3) |
>640 Mbps |
1136 ALMs |
3 M4Ks |
| Microsemi ProASIC3 (-2) |
>240 Mbps |
4293 tiles |
3 RAMs |
| Microsemi AX (-2) |
>340 Mbps |
3636 cells |
6 RAMs |
| Xilinx Spartan-3 (-5) |
>440 Mbps |
698 slices |
3 RAMB16s |
| Xilinx Spartan-6 (-3) |
>530 Mbps |
340 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Artix-7 (-3) |
>770 Mbps |
393 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Virtex-5 (-3) |
>800 Mbps |
415 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Virtex-6 (-3) |
>950 Mbps |
356 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Virtex-7 (-3) |
>1100 Mbps |
415 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Kintex-7 (-3) |
>1100 Mbps |
406 slices |
- |
| Xilinx UltraSCALE (-2) |
>1200 Mbps |
217 CLBs |
- |
| Xilinx UltraSCALE+ (-2) |
>1500 Mbps |
211 CLBs |
- |
19-cycle 128-bit key version - for higher rate applications
| TARGET |
PERFORMANCE |
LOGIC |
RAM |
| ASIC (0.13um CMOS) |
>2.5 Gbps |
<TBA gates |
- |
| Microsemi ProASIC3 (-2) |
>680 Mbps |
5618 tiles |
10 RAMs |
| Xilinx Spartan-3 (-5) |
>860 Mbps |
1133 slices |
9 RAMB16s |
| Xilinx Spartan-6 (-3) |
>1.3 Gbps |
639 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Artix-7 (-3) |
>2.2 Gbps |
781 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Virtex-5 (-3) |
>2.2 Gbps |
678 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Virtex-6 (-3) |
>2.4 Gbps |
635 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Kintex-7 (-3) |
>3.2 Gbps |
767 slices |
- |
| Xilinx Virtex-7 (-3) |
>3.2 Gbps |
792 slices |
- |
| Xilinx UltraSCALE (-2) |
>3.5 Gbps |
454 CLBs |
- |
| Xilinx UltraSCALE+ (-2) |
>4.3 Gbps |
458 CLBs |
- |
Remember that these are just two examples from a suite of many AES-GCM solutions
we have available, so if you are looking for lower area or higher rate GCM cores,
support for non-listed target technologies or maybe support for the longer keysizes,
please contact Helion for full information.
Product Briefs
For full details of all the Helion AES-GCM cores, please download the appropriate Product Brief in PDF format below.
 AES-GCM Cores - ASIC
AES-GCM Cores - FPGA
Contact
For more detailed information on this or any of our other products and services,
please feel free to email us at
helioncores@heliontech.com and we will be pleased to discuss how we can assist
with your individual requirements.
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