EPIC: Pulse Delay Generator

Python
Security
3D Printing
System Design
PCB
Verilog
FPGA
Enclosure
Open Source
Communication
Spring 2025

Our team developed the Pulse Delay Generator (PDG), an open-source, FPGA-based system intended for hardware security robustness testing through precise voltage glitching for fault injection attacks. The PDG employs a unique asynchronous Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) and delay element architecture designed within the FPGA fabric, enabling highly accurate, sub-nanosecond pulse delays while compensating for asynchronous triggers to significantly reduce jitter. Additionally, a custom high-speed PCB ensures optimal signal integrity, while our tailored communication protocol seamlessly connects a Python-based GUI to the FPGA via USB, enabling intuitive user interaction, including arming, resetting, and configuring system parameters with minimal effort. Our most notable achievement is the implementation of an optional external clock input, a unique feature unmatched by commercial alternatives, that enables further jitter reduction when paired with a high-quality clock source. Achieving reliable synchronization with an external clock proved challenging, requiring careful attention to physical routing and clock-domain synchronization. Separately, ensuring precise sub-cycle delays necessitated meticulous manual wiring and hand-placement of FPGA primitives, along with exact tuning of the Vernier delay lines and TDC architecture.

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Artifacts

Name Description
Project Poster A poster of the project as presented at the expo   Download
Executive Summary Executive summary of the project   Download
Project Summary Video A video summarizing the project   Link
Project Document Completed project document for the entire capstone project   Download
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