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

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

drm_aclk clock drives the internal DRM core. 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/
----- constraints
-------- constraints.sdc
----- drm_ip_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.vhdl
----- drm_ip_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.vho
----- drm_ip_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.veo
----- drm_ip_activator_package_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.vhdl
-- sim/
----- modelsim/
-------- drm_controller_bfm.vhdl
-------- drm_controller_bfm.v
----- xilinx_sim/
-------- drm_controller_bfm.vhdl
-------- drm_controller_bfm.v
----- drm_license_package.vhdl
----- drm_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv_license_file.xml
----- drm_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv_sim_pkg.sv
----- drm_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv_sim_pkg.vhdl
----- top_drm_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv_sim.sv
----- top_drm_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv_sim.vhdl
-- syn/
----- top_drm_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.v
----- top_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 top_drm_activator_0xvvvvllllnnnnvvvv.(v|vhdl). It declares an entity named top_drm_activator_0xVVVVLLLLNNNNVVVV where is a 64 bits hexadecimal encoding of the IP VLNV.

For example top_drm_activator_0x0C001020A56E0001

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.