CW305 in Vivado - No hardware target is open

Embedded Security ChipWhisperer Hardware
1

Hi, I am trying to program a CW305 using Vivado but the hardware is not being detected in the Hardware Manager. My first thought was to try reinstalling the Vivado USB drivers, but this has not solved the problem.

I recently looked further into the documentation for the board and saw that the S1 switches have to be configured as 101 for JTAG programming in Vivado, which I was not doing previously, so I’m hoping this is the source of the problem.

I won’t have access to the device again for a few days (its owned by my college) so I’m hoping for some feedback from someone with more experience before I continue working with it.

Is there something else I may be overlooking, or another problem that might be preventing the board from connecting? Any help is much appreciated.

2

Did you connect a JTAG programmer (e.g. Xilinx Platform cable)? It goes on the header labeled “FPGA JTAG”, next to the USB connector. You only need this if you wish to use ILAs; otherwise, you can program the FPGA bitfile via ChipWhisperer, no programming hardware required, as shown in our CW305 demo.

3

So a separate cable is needed for the JTAG connection…I’m used to working with Altera so I was mistakenly thinking of JTAG and USB as synonymous.

The logic analyzer may prove useful so I’m inclined to go this route. I know the college has development kits for the CW305, I’m guessing they include the necessary cable. If not I’ll give the bitfile programming a shot.

This helps a lot, thanks!

4

I have another question, can ChipWhisperer be used with python coding to perform AES bitstream encryption over the USB connection?

Reading through the documentation for Artix-7 leads me to believe AES bitstream encryption is only possible over JTAG with a JTAG cable, but I want to confirm that this is the case. Thanks.

5

I don’t know, can you try it?
Bitstream encryption is done by Vivado when the bitstream is generated; ChipWhisperer software just moves the bits around, so it may well “just work”.

If your question was whether ChipWhisperer can take an unencrypted bitstream and encrypt it: no.

Jean-Pierre