Space Photonics Inc., an optical networking systems manufacturer, has received a $1 million contract to develop an anti-tamper capability for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

The two-year Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant will focus on limiting electro-magnetic (EM) emanations, or noise level, to safeguard sensitive information designed into FPGA integrated circuits, which are used in military and commercial technology.

If an enemy can intercept an FPGA’s EM signal, its design can be reverse-engineered and its stored information can be accessed, which can put patented American technology at risk and endanger troops on the battlefield.

Space Photonics aims to reduce EM emanations (noise level) to protect the FPGA’s design and to mitigate the possibility of reverse-engineering. The technique requires no external hardware, making it suitable for co-integration with a variety of other anti-tamper/anti-reverse engineering approaches.

“The use of FPGAs is becoming more and more common in both military and commercial technologies,” said Michael Leary, network electronics manager at Space Photonics and the project principal investigator. “The technique our team is developing will reduce so-called side-channel attacks aimed at gaining critical program information stored in FPGAs.”

For more information, visit: www.spacephotonics.com