Flexible and Scalable BLAKE/BLAKE2 Coprocessor for Blockchain-Based IoT Applications

Abstract

Developing flexible, high-processing-rate, and low-power BLAKE/BLAKE2 hardware is extremely necessary for maintaining dependability, safety, and security in blockchain-based IoT systems. However, the existing hardware designs are difficult to achieve high flexibility and performance with high hardware efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposes the first flexible and scalable BLAKE/BLAKE2 coprocessor to gain high flexibility, high performance, and low power for blockchain-based IoT applications. To achieve those goals, three novel optimization techniques are proposed, including a dual-core hashing engine, a pipelined hashing engine, and a scalable four-engine coprocessor. The experimental results on FPGA and ASIC prove that our coprocessor is 3.6-65.5 times, 1.4-2.9 times, and 113-195 times better than existing works in throughput, area efficiency, and energy efficiency, respectively. Additionally, our coprocessor supports more hash functions, making it more flexible than previous architectures. Besides, the proposed coprocessor outperforms the industrial CPU/GPU by 4.7-7.1 times in the energy-delay product (EDP).