In our never-ending quest to have wolfSSL supported and running on all platforms, everywhere, for everyone, we are proud to announce we are now supporting Softcore RISC-V Environments.
What is a Softcore RISC-V CPU? We’re glad you asked! Softcore means the electronics are created on a “soft” and reusable FPGA instead of the one-time, hard silicon manufacturing process. The RISC-V is of course open source; This allows anyone to build their own CPU and not pay any license fees for architecture or buy expensive proprietary development software. Silicon fabrication is expensive and time consuming for hardcore CPUs.
Open-source toolchains such as those at YosysHQ allow literally anyone with a modern computer to build nearly anything imaginable on the “soft” fabric of an FPGA. This includes a full-blown CPU! Anyone from the hobbyist building a CPU literally at the kitchen table at home to the most skilled development engineers developing next-generation, state-of-the-art custom CPUs in secret labs can use RISC-V technology. We’re there with you to help secure your data and connections to the outside world.
There are several different open-source RISC-V CPU projects out there. The one we’ve chosen to test with our wolfSSL code targets the Lattice Semiconductor ECP5-85F chip, specifically the FPGA on the Radiona ULX3S from our friends over at Crowd Supply. The soft RISC-V CPU is the Wren6991/Hazard3. This project was chosen as a test environment due to its relative grace and simplicity, as well as including a soft JTAG.
Are you interested in building your own custom CPU with wolfSSL? Contact us to see how we can help: facts@wolfssl.com