View source for Open-source electronic design automation for agile network defense at OVHcloud

* Speaker: Jean Bruant
* email: jean [dot] bruant (at) ovhcloud [dot] com

<!--
==Downloads==
* [[:File:File_name.pdf|Slides]] (to upload a file: go to Edit mode, then click on the fourth icon from the left "Embed file" and follow the instructions)
TBU
-->

==Abstract==
In a context of ever-growing worldwide communication traffic and fast deployment of IoT devices, network attacks have become a daily challenge with record-breaking throughput levels.
Fast iterations are decisive to successfully mitigate the threat posed by these attacks.
Compared to software solutions based on general purpose CPUs, FPGA-based mitigation appliances appear as an energy-efficient alternative which combines configurability with guaranteed high-throughput and low-latency.
However, implementation of such dedicated hardware accelerators based on the register-transfer level (RTL) abstraction is a much slower and tedious process than functionally equivalent software developments.

This talk details how open-source EDA tools help with the design and maintenance of agile FPGA-based network defense systems at OVHcloud.
As a key enabler, Hardware Construction Languages (HCLs), such as the Scala-embedded Chisel, apply some existing software abstractions to hardware design, which permits descriptions of circuit generators with high-level software paradigms, such as object-oriented and functional programming.
We first exhibit the relevance of such software inherited paradigms to develop highly re-usable network functions, inspecting both implementation and design perspectives.
Then, we review the associated open-source EDA ecosystem and the integration ability of these novel design methodologies within existing HDL hierarchies.
In particular, we developed an (almost) word-for-word translation of SystemVerilog HDL to Chisel HCL and tools to smoothen the integration of Chisel-generated IPs into SystemVerilog hierarchies.
These open-source tools are available at github.com/ovh/sv2chisel.

== Downloads ==
* [https://peertube.f-si.org/videos/watch/d242ff63-efe3-43a0-a418-70b0acee9ff0 Video recording]

==Software==
===General information===
* Repository: https://github.com/ovh/sv2chisel
* The software has been used in the following projects: Internal OVHcloud projects, maybe elsewhere? Let us know!

===Roadmap===
* We are currently working on a Chisel-based Pipeline Automation Framework that we aim at releasing as open-source in the near future.
* We still seek help on VHDL front-end for sv2chisel to hopefully help with adoption of Chisel in Europe!