Implementation Efficiency of Falcon Digital Signature Scheme on Arty-7 XC7A35T Board

Abstract

In this study, the authors propose a solution for implementing a digital signature system using the post-quantum digital signature scheme Falcon on the FPGA hardware platform XC7A35T-CPG236. The system is combined with a software component developed in C# using the NET Framework 4.7, capable of running on the Windows operating system. Falcon is selected for its compact signature size and high computational performance, optimizing the signing and verification processes on hardware. The system is designed to leverage the hardware acceleration capabilities of an FPGA to enhance performance compared to software-only signature methods. The integration of the Falcon scheme into both hardware (FPGA) and software components ensures high flexibility for real-world deployment. The obtained results show that key generation execution time is approximately 1516.2 ms, while the signing and verification times are around 2–5 ms. Hardware resource usage has significantly improved, and the power consumption is 0.097 W (57%). However, the software component has not yet undergone thorough security testing. Given the achieved results in terms of execution time and energy consumption, the proposed device and software may be suitable for certain applications that do not require stringent performance and energy constraints. Furthermore, this research demonstrates the feasibility of deploying post-quantum cryptographic solutions on embedded hardware platforms, contributing to the development of secure communication systems in the future.