2026-06-09 –, Poster Island B
As the NIST Lightweight Cryptography (LWC) standard, ASCON is pivotal for securing IoT ecosystems. This work presents CHIMERA, a multipurpose cryptographic engine for RISC-V, supporting AEAD and Hashing. We propose two architectural paradigms integrated via the Core-V eXtension Interface (CV-X-IF): a high-performance Complete Round (CR) version utilizing a state-register bank, and a minimalist Bitwise Rotation Unit (BRU) version focusing on Instruction Set Extensions (ISE). Our designs suit throughput-critical workloads, delivering up to 6x speed-up, as well as footprint-constrained deployments on ASIC and FPGA.
Valeria Piscopo received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electronic Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, in 2021 and 2024 respectively. Since November 2024, she is a Ph.D student in Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. Her research activity is centered on the design of secure hardware accelerators for Post-Quantum Cryptography and their integration in RISC-V ecosystems.
Ph.D. researcher in Electrical/Electronic Engineering with strong organizational skills and high motivation. Experienced in hardware/software co-design for embedded systems, including RISC-V SoC integration, custom accelerator interfaces, RTL development (SystemVerilog), FPGA prototyping, and embedded C. Solid background in Post-Quantum Cryptography implementations and optimization, with a performance-driven mindset and enthusiasm for new technical challenges.
