Indiana Integrated Circuits Licenses AFRL inventions

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Kevin Kwiat

Dr. Kevin A. Kwiat, formerly Principal Computer Engineer with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York with more than 34 years of federal service, is currently a CAESAR Group partner. He continues his 30+ years as an adjunct professor by teaching in the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Network and Computer Security at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute. He received his PhD in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University.

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The trend of US semiconductor companies outsourcing their device fabrication (i.e., fabless manufacturing) is typically directed to specialized foundries that are overseas. An international electronics manufacturing company with suspected ties to a foreign government has recently brought the issue of malicious hardware to the forefront. The “buyer beware” mantra has taken on a more sinister meaning for procurers of microcircuits. Propitiously, AFRL had the foresight to seek a solution to such a vexing cyber threat and that solution has been embodied in patented inventions. The patented inventions can be viewed at:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US11354451B2/en?oq=11354451

https://patents.google.com/patent/US10121011/en?oq=10121011

Perhaps even more fortuitous, Indiana Integrated Circuits (IIC) from South Bend, Indiana, has had the foresight to license the above AFRL inventions – thus taking that critical step towards bringing the technology into commercial use. Now on the horizon is the freedom to harness the global fabless capability but with the agility to fight through the insertion of a hardware Trojan. Jason M. Kulick, President and Co-Founder of IIC, had this to say: “IIC is pleased to be the first to license this technology and we look forward to witnessing the impacts it can have.”

IIC is also investing R&D to elevate AFRL’s hardware Trojan fighting capability to the printed circuit board (PCB) level. Recently, the company presented its preliminary results in a technical paper at the Government Microcircuits Application Conference (GOMAC).

The CAESAR Group applauds IIC for having invested in microcircuit security and our applause continues for the company’s PCB encore. This will further mitigate future concerns regarding technology swaps with companies of foreign origin. As with IIC, the CAESAR Group is ready to act as facilitators for companies looking to utilize cutting edge Air Force technology to build their business or add to its product offerings.