DRM Activator IP¶
This section is for application architects and IP designers who are willing to protect at runtime their design and/or IP running on FPGA. This document presents in details, the DRM Activator IP.
For information about the DRM Controller, see DRM Controller IP.
For information about hardware integration, see DRM Hardware integration.
Features¶
The main functionality of the DRM Activator IP is to:
Deliver a 128 bits Activation Code to the IP Core for behavior control
Maintain a credit timer for time based activation
Store a metering counter for activities measurement
Block diagram¶
Interface description¶
Reset and Clock¶
The IP Core clock domain and the DRM Bus clock domain can be asynchronous, the IP Activator component implements the CDC (Clock Domain Crossing).
The resets are active low and asynchronous with the clocks.
DRM AXI4-Stream Bus connected to DRM controller¶
Communication on the DRM Bus uses an AXI4-Stream protocol where the IP Activator is a slave and the DRM Controller is the master. A single Controller is always required but any number of Activators is supported (1 to N connections).
Name
Direction
Size
Description
drm_arstn
in
1
DRM AXI4-Stream bus Asynchronous Reset (active low)
drm_aclk
in
1
DRM AXI4-Stream bus Clock domain: must be identical to the DRM Controller clock
drm_to_uip_tready
out
1
AXI4-Stream Ready signal for DRM to IP
drm_to_uip_tvalid
in
1
AXI4-Stream Valid signal for DRM to IP
drm_to_uip_tdata
in
32
AXI4-Stream Data signal for DRM to IP
uip_to_drm_tready
in
1
AXI4-Stream Ready signal for IP to DRM
uip_to_drm_tvalid
out
1
AXI4-Stream Valid signal for IP to DRM
uip_to_drm_tdata
out
32
AXI4-Stream Data signal for IP to DRM
To ease the integration with most of the EDA tools, this bus has been wrapped on 2 AXI4-Steam buses.
DRM Activator interface with IP to protect¶
The interface with the IP Core is a simple register interface with control signals.
Name |
Direction |
Size |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
ip_core_aclk |
in |
1 |
IP Core clock |
metering_event |
in |
1 |
Level-sensitive signal synchronous to ip_core_aclk that increments the Metering counter when sampled to ‘1’ |
activation_code |
out |
128 |
Activation Code as provided by the License Key currently loaded. |
Note
activation_code is synchronous to ip_core_aclk.
metering_event must be synchronous to ip_core_aclk.
Operations¶
Signals of the IP core that are interacting with the DRM Activator shall be
synchronized on the IP Core clock domain, ip_core_aclk signal. Internally,
the IP core shall implement its own CDC.
The IP Core uses the 128 bits of the Activation Code output to control FSM transition and datapath gates.
The DRM Activator implements an internal 64-bit Metering counter that is used to store the activity of the IP Core. It is reset synchronously via the DRM Bus protocl when the session is closed.
It is incremented under the control of the IP Core by asserting the metering_event input
for 1 clock cycle. metering_event is a level-sensitive signal so make sure the signal
is de-asserted when the event has passed.
Implementation results¶
FPGA |
LUT |
FF |
RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
Kintex ultrascale+ |
2200 |
1800 |
2 of 36Kbits, 18 of 18Kbits |
Kintex 7 |
2400 |
1900 |
18 of 36Kbits |
File structure¶
The IP HDK contains the components and models for compilation and simulation of the assembly IP core + IP Activator.
IP Activator HDK directories and files:
vendor_library_name_version/
-- core/
----- drm_ip_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.vhdl
----- drm_ip_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.v
----- drm_ip_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.vho
----- drm_ip_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.veo
----- drm_ip_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.xml
-- sim/
----- modelsim/
-------- drm_controller_bfm.vhdl
-------- drm_controller_bfm.v
----- xilinx_sim/
-------- drm_controller_bfm.vhdl
-------- drm_controller_bfm.v
----- drm_activator_0x1003000b00010001_license_file.xml
----- drm_activator_0x1003000b00010001_sim.sv
----- drm_activator_0x1003000b00010001_sim.vhdl
----- drm_activator_0x1003000b00010001_sim_pkg.sv
----- drm_activator_0x1003000b00010001_sim_pkg.vhdl
----- drm_license_package.vhdl
-- syn/
----- drm_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.v
----- drm_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.vhdl
---docs/
common/
-- sv/
----- altera/
-------- altchip_id_arria10.sv
----- alteraProprietary/
-------- altchip_id_arria10.sv
-- vhdl/
----- altera/
-------- drm_all_components.vhdl
----- alteraProprietary/
-------- drm_all_components.vhdl
----- modelsim/
-------- drm_all_components.vhdl
----- xilinx/
-------- drm_all_components.vhdl
The IP Activator top-level file is drm_ip_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv_axi4st. It declares an entity named drm_ip_activator_0xVVVVLLLLNNNNVVVV_axi4st where is a 64 bits hexadecimal encoding of the IP VLNV.
For example drm_ip_activator_0x0C001020A56E0001_axi4st
In the above example, the altchip_id_arria10 files correspond to the Arria 10 FPGA family. Your common folder content might differ depending on the FPGA family you have requested.
Implementation guidelines¶
A protected IP consists of the assembly of an IP Core and an IP Activator:
The IP Vendor shall modify the IP core in order to:
Protect some relevant part of the code by adding conditional logics based on the Activation Code value (128 bits)
Count data metrics related to the IP usage (byte, frame, or any other quantity) and generate a pulse on the DRM Activator event input every usage unit.
For information about hardware integration, see DRM Hardware integration.