Ittiam Systems Launches 802.11b Wireless LAN IP - High Performance, Proven and Ready for SOC Integration

Bangalore. February 5, 2003 - Ittiam Systems, today announced the availability of a complete Wireless LAN (Local Area Network) IP offering based on the IEEE 802.11b standard.

Wireless LAN

Wireless LAN (WLAN) is changing the way people network computers both at home and in offices. It has removed the need to have a physical wire connected to PCs, laptops, palmtops or any other networked appliances to be able to access computer network and eventually the internet. The connection is now made using Wireless LAN technology. IEEE 802.11b standard based WLAN cards can talk to each other at the rate of 11 Mbps (Mega bits per second) on a carrier frequency of 2.4 GHz. The key components of a Wireless LAN include:

• The Physical Layer (PHY) or Baseband - where the core signal processing for the system occurs. This is a highly compute intensive function that require dedicated hardware implementation for real time operation.
• The Media Access Controller (MAC) - which is the protocol layer, that enables the different devices to talk to each other.
• The Radio Frequency (RF) section - that transmits and receives the signals wirelessly.

Ittiam 802.11b Wireless LAN

Ittiam 802.11b Wireless LAN offering includes complete model of the system, a Synthesizable Core for the 802.11b PHY, 802.11 MAC software and a complete reference board on which the entire IP is demonstrated in real time. It is designed to work with commercial off-the-shelf RF chipsets.

The 802.11b baseband is available as a synthesizable HDL (Hardware Description Language) core, in both Verilog and VHDL. It has a benchmark gate count, highly competitive PER (Packet Error Rate) performance and includes advanced signal processing algorithms for synchronization, channel estimation and equalization.

The 802.11 MAC is designed for 802.11b/a/g and operates both in Access Point and Station Card mode. The implementation of the MAC is an optimal partition between hardware and software. The aim is to ensure low MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) and easy portability.

The Reference Board is a Wireless LAN demonstration platform where the 802.11b baseband is implemented on an Altera FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The 802.11 MAC runs on an ARM processor. It has interfaces to multiple RF sections to support both 802.11b and 802.11a. The Ittiam Wireless LAN demonstration platform can be configured as either a Station (STA) Card or an Access Point (AP). The throughput of the Ittiam IP solution is on par with commercial WLAN equipment available in the market.

Ittiam demonstrated the complete solution working in a heterogeneous environment, including real-life applications like transferring files and streaming video over wireless. The demonstration environment included Ittiam 802.11b Wireless LAN solution on one end and a commercial off-the-shelf WLAN card on the other.

There are multiple semiconductor companies in the world who sell WLAN chipsets. However, according to Shantanu Jha, Vice President, Communications, Ittiam Systems, "There are only a handful of vendors who offer WLAN as an IP. Out of them only a few have a working IP solution demonstrated on a reference design". "Ittiam is part of this select group", he added.

The target markets for Ittiam's WLAN offering includes semiconductor companies looking for a jump-start into the 802.11b chipset business, system on chip (SOC) companies who would like to embed a Wireless LAN capability into their SOC and finally system companies who are looking for a IP solution to be integrated into their overall system. "We see significant growth in Wireless LAN for years to come and for applications ranging from enterprises to entertainment", said Mr. Srini Rajam, Chairman and CEO, Ittiam Systems. "Therefore, our roadmap includes not only 802.11b based IP but extends into 802.11a and 802.11g. Wireless LAN has been a significant R&D investment for Ittiam which aspires to be a world class DSP Systems Company", he added.

Ittiam has been demonstrating their Wireless LAN solution to select audiences in the U.S., Japan and Taiwan.

About Ittiam
Ittiam Systems Private Limited is an Indian company headquartered in Bangalore, developing DSP Software and Systems. Ittiam is singularly focussed on digital signal processing in communications and multimedia. For more details, visit the company website at www.ittiam.com.