Project Grant 2347602

The University of Rhode Island (URI) Research Office was awarded a $199,437 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to advance hardware security techniques through the use of graph neural networks. The goal of this 2-year project is to establish a new infrastructure that leverages graph neural networks to investigate the characteristics of different logic locking techniques, streamline the advancement of logic-locking, and enhance its feasibility within integrated circuit (IC) design workflows. The project will focus on three key research thrusts: 1) developing graph neural network models centered around sequential logic locking methods, 2) advancing transfer learning methodologies applied to graph neural network models for automated generation of locking techniques, and 3) implementing the proposed design schemes in hardware. This work aims to shift logic-locking from in-lab research to an industry standard for safeguarding intellectual property and cultivate a new generation of students and engineers equipped to address future challenges in hardware security.