WLAN baseband LSIs integrate 802.1x protocol

Rohm Co. Ltd has announced the development of baseband LSIs for WLAN with built-in IEEE 802.1x protocol that enables high-level encryption authentication processing for integrated applications.

Conventional LAN systems divide security and authentication processing between the host CPU and baseband LSI. This not only increases the load on the CPU, but also requires additional software development time.

Rohm's BU1802GU and BU1803GU use ARM7TDMI for high-speed processing, are compatible with the IEEE 802.11a/b/g and secure engine IEEE 802.11i standards, and incorporate a media controller and multiple encryption protocols. As a result, the load on the host CPU is greatly reduced.

The company has incorporated the IEEE 802.1x protocol—said to be an industry first—enabling high security connection to an authentication server (RADIUS) that ports the protocol to the host CPU. This cuts development time by 90 percent, since the CPU only exchanges data with and sets the addresses in the baseband LSI.

These LSIs can also be used to design a common board for station and access point applications by simply replacing the firmware from an externally connected flash ROM or through the host CPU. The BU1802GU and BU1803GU are compatible with the SDIO (9 lines) and SPI (8 lines) interfaces, respectively, significantly reducing the number of lines required compared with conventional PCI parallel interfaces, which use 68 lines, while simplifying board design.

Sample shipments began in August (sample price: $42), with mass production scheduled for January 2008.