VLSPQC

VLSPQC (VLSI-Lab Post-Quantum Cryptography) is a collection of clean, hardware-oriented C implementations of the main post-quantum algorithms that have either passed or are still ongoing in the NIST standardization process.

The repository is designed to provide runnable code on FPGA platforms while remaining compliant with the Known Answer Test (KAT) format defined in the original NIST submissions.

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📦 Included Algorithms

This repository currently supports:

• ML-KEM Kyber
  This repository contains the official reference implementation of the Kyber key encapsulation mechanism. Kyber has been selected for standardization in round 3 of the NIST PQC standardization project.

• ML-DSA Dilithium
  This repository contains the official reference implementation of the Dilithium signature scheme. Dilithium is standardized as FIPS 204.

• HQC HQC

  • HQC-2024 : previous version of HQC (23/03/2024)
  • HQC-2025 : last version of HQC (22/08/2025)
  • HQC-2025-v5 : last version of HQC (22/08/2025) - additional modification to Karatsuba multiplication, for hardware optimization.
    This repository provides the official implementation of HQC, a code-based Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) whose security is based on the hardness of solving the Quasi-Cylic Syndrome Decoding (QCSD) problem. HQC is one of the selected algorithms from the NIST's Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Project.

• Falcon

• SPHINCS+
  This repository contains the software that accompanies the SPHINCS+ submission to NIST's Post-Quantum Cryptography project.

• CROSS

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🧪 KAT-Compliant Tests

Each algorithm comes with a self-contained KAT test, adapted from the official reference implementation submitted to NIST.

Each test provides:

• Key generation (keygen)
• Encapsulation / Signing (encaps / sign)
• Decapsulation / Verification (decaps / verify)

This makes the implementations straightforward to validate and benchmark, while ensuring compliance with the standard reference behavior.

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🎯 Purpose

VLSPQC has been developed within the VLSI-Lab as a foundation for:

• Hardware/software co-design of PQC algorithms.
• FPGA-based prototyping and benchmarking.
• Integration into VLSI-oriented PQC accelerators.
• Ensuring reproducibility against NIST’s official KATs.

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🔧 Usage - TBD

Each algorithm resides in its own directory with a corresponding Makefile target. For example:

make app PROJECT=mlkem
make app PROJECT=mldsa
make app PROJECT=hqc
make app PROJECT=falcon
make app PROJECT=sphincs+
make app PROJECT=cross

📄 License

This repository follows the licensing terms of the respective reference implementations used as the starting point. Please check individual algorithm directories for specific license details.

👥 Authors

• Alessandra Dolmeta - alessandra.dolmeta@polito.it
• Valeria Piscopo - valeria.piscopo@polito.it