Wireless LAN

Ittiam Systems' portfolio of Intellectual Property (IP) for IEEE 802.11 based Wireless LAN systems targets silicon and system designers with a need to incorporate 802.11 functionality in their systems as a chipset, System on a Chip (SoC) design or platform.

Ittiam's WLAN IP, licensed to over ten customers across North America, Europe, Asia and Japan, includes optimized high performance IEEE 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g Physical Layers (PHYs) and the 802.11 MAC. Apart from a rich set of deliverables and support for integration of the IP in customer systems, Ittiam's WLAN IP programme offers a roadmap for future extensions to the IEEE 802.11 specifications.

Fully verified on Ittiam's WLAN Validation Platform, standard IP delivery includes source, comprehensive documentation, system models and test benches, offering a reduced design cycle time.

802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g PHYs

The Ittiam IEEE 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g PHYs are offered as synthesizable HDL cores (Verilog and VHDL), suitable for ASIC integration.

The Ittiam IEEE 802.11b/a/g PHYs have been developed using a methodology that emphasizes high performance and low gate counts. The methodology includes algorithmic design in MATLAB and fixed point modelling and analysis (in C++) of advanced signal processing algorithms for synchronization, channel estimation and equalization.

The synthesizable cores are also offered on latest generation FPGA devices from Altera and Xilinx.

Software implementations of the Physical Layers on custom processors are also offered. For details on software implemented PHYs, please contact mkt@ittiam.com.

Key Features

• Supports all mandatory data rates and modulation schemes.
• Benchmark gate count and power consumption.
• Very low PHY implementation loss.
• Delay spread support comparable to industry leading WLAN ICs.
• Proven RF interfaces to multiple RF front ends. Customizable to other RF front ends including Zero-IF.
• Optimized interfaces to Ittiam's 802.11 MAC IP, easily customizable to third party 802.11 MAC solutions.
• Conforms to Spectrum Requirements in US, Europe and Japan.
• Fully verified on Ittiam Wireless LAN Validation Platform.

802.11 MAC

The Ittiam 802.11 MAC is implemented as portable ANSI-C software targeted at embedded RISC processors, with hardware acceleration blocks. The partition of the 802.11 MAC implementation between hardware and software is flexible to account for various applications, processor architectures, design constraints and goals.

Key Features

• Supports both Station and Access Point Modes and all IEEE 802.11 PHY (802.11b/a/g) data rates. Support for all features including power management modes, WEP (64 and 128 bit), and PCF (on request).
• Benchmark throughputs fully verified using standard applications like ftp, Video Servers, and throughput verification tools.
• Customizable hardware and software partitioning for low gate count and small processor foot print (Low clock rates, MIPS, program and data memory).
• Generic flexible architecture to support future standard extensions 802.11i, 802.11e, and others.

Validation Platform

The Ittiam WLAN Validation Platform provides an environment for a physical realization of of Ittiam Systems' IEEE 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g PHYs and 802.11 MAC. Integrated with appropriate host and network interfaces and commercial Radio Frequency (RF) chipsets, this allows the Validation Platform to be operated as a Station or Access Point (AP), interoperable with standard off the shelf 802.11 WLAN networking equipment.

The Ittiam WLAN Validation Platform can be used to verify the functionality and measure performance of Ittiam's WLAN IP.

Features

• Provisioned with two Altera Stratix FPGAs for realization of two PHYs (e.g. dual band operation)
• Altera Excalibur (ARM922T core, AMBA bus, FPGA gates) to execute MAC software with hardware acceleration
• Separate analog section to allow for fast, cost effective and targetted respins of platform various RF chipsets
• Provision for two analog sections and RF
• Host and Network interfaces, with appropriate drivers
• Configurable as Station or Access Point, with appropriate configuration utilities
• Provides facilities for code and FPGA bitstream download
• Provides for test and debug of Ittiam IP, interoperable with standard off the shelf 802.11 networking equipment

Validation

All components of Ittiam's WLAN IP portfolio are rigorously tested and validated at every stage of development.

The Ittiam 802.11 PHYs are verified at

• Algorithm level through MATLAB model
• Fixed point level through fixed point C++ model
• HDL Level through HDL/Gate Level Simulations, using Ittiam's WLAN Test Bench Framework and test cases.
• Implementation Level on the Ittiam WLAN Validation Platform

The Ittiam 802.11 MAC is verified at

• Algorithmic Level through System Model
• Implementation Level on the demonstration board

The complete 802.11 Wireless LAN Solution is Verified on the Validation Platform:

• MAC, PHY and RF integrated
• Air to Air
• Interoperability with standard off-the-shelf network interface cards (NIC) and Access Points (AP)
• Performance

The Validation Test Cases used include

• University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab, PHY and MAC Conformance Test Suites.
• WECA Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, Wi-Fi System Interoperability Test Cases
• Ittiam internally generated test procedures and test cases.
• Application level test procedures and test cases to demonstrate interoperability of Windows and Linux applications, e.g. Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, ftp, ping, Streaming Video Servers etc.

Delivery

Delivery of Ittiam's standard 802.11 WLAN IP includes the following, as applicable

• Source
• System Models (floating point MATLAB and fixed point C++ for PHYs)
• Test Bench Framework, Test Cases
• User's Guide, Reference Manual, Programmer's Guides
• Copy of Ittiam WLAN Validation Platform

Support

Ittiam Systems provides licensees of its WLAN IP with support in customization of integration of the IP in end systems.

Typical customizations undertaken include

• Interfacing of Ittiam's 802.11b/a/g PHY synthesizable cores to customer MAC
• Custom waveforms or modulation schemes for custom applications
• Integration of Ittiam's 802.11b/a/g PHYs with customer RF chipsets
• Software implementations of Ittiam's 802.11b/a/g algorithms on custom processors
• Migration of Ittiam's 802.11 MAC to customer processor/ core
• Modifying hardware/software partition of Ittiam's 802.11 MAC for customer processor/core, customer applications
• Development of configuration utilities for Ittiam's 802.11 MAC
• Integration of Ittiam's 802.11 MAC with embedded applications

Contact

For further details, contact mkt@ittiam.com.

Graphical User Interface
of MATLAB floating point model

Performance Plot for 802.11a PHY fixed point model (indicative only)

The 802.11 MAC hardware
partition offers a low
footprint with significant
reduction in processor
loading and enhanced
performance.