NewLogic Offers WLAN 802.11h Implementation with Enhanced Radar Detection

NewLogic announces its 802.11h solution with enhanced radar detection for its WiLD WLAN Intellectual Property (IP)

San Jose, USA, Wi-Fi Planet Conference & Expo - November 30th, 2004 - NewLogic Technologies, a leading supplier of intellectual property (IP) cores for wireless systems, today announced its support of IEEE 802.11h with an improved radar detection algorithm within its 802.11 WiLD WLAN IP blocks. NewLogic's WLAN IP offering is comprised of triple mode a/b/g MAC, Modems and Radio all proven in CMOS silicon, with support of .11e Quality of Service and .11i Security Extensions.

A particularly difficult problem for the industry is the proper detection of radar pulses necessary for support of 802.11h. The biggest issue is not to detect radar but to avoid false detections, e.g. letting interferences trigger a false radar detection. False detection has to be kept to a minimum due to the fact that a channel in which a radar is detected has to be blocked for WLAN transmission for at least 30 minutes. If the false alarm rate for radar detection is too high too many channels are blocked and the WLAN network can rapidly become saturated. European regulations are available today but are still evolving; discussions are advanced in the USA on similar radar detection requirements.

The NewLogic solution is extremely flexible in its implementation and therefore fully compatible with the latest proposals of radar signatures in both Europe and the USA. NewLogic's implementation offers an exceptionally low false alarm rate, while detecting radar pulses with 99% probability. To achieve this NewLogic is not relying solely on measuring the energy level of the received pulse which leads to high false alarm rates, but instead uses more advanced processing concepts.

"It is reasonably easy to achieve compliance to 11h and detect a high percentage of true radar pulses, but it is far more challenging to ensure a minimal false alarm rate," states Mana Coste, Marketing Manager at NewLogic. "This is a performance parameter that system vendors must not underestimate in the selection of a WLAN solution, at the risk of finding themselves with a compliant solution, but with unhappy customers and a high return rate of their equipment."

The 802.11h Standard

The 802.11h extensions for WLAN systems will be required in all 802.11a compliant Access Points and Ad-Hoc systems by the beginning of 2005 in Europe and will also be applicable to North America in order to avoid interference with military radar applications. This standard is supplementary to the 802.11a specification to comply with European regulations for 5GHz WLANs. European radio regulations for the 5GHz band require products to have transmission power control (TPC) and dynamic frequency selection (DFS) to avoid collision and interference. TPC limits the transmitted power to the minimum needed to reach the furthest user, hence also reducing the power consumption of both Access Points and Stations in the network. DFS selects the radio channel at the access point to minimize interference with other systems, particularly radar.

"Being able to offer a sophisticated 802.11h solution and a precise radar detection algorithm with our WLAN IP is very beneficial for our customers as this allows them to offer standard compliant solutions in an early stage of the market providing to them a competitive edge" states Mana Coste.

NewLogic WLAN offering consists of all the building blocks for an 802.11a/b/g compliant solution which are: a dualband CMOS Radio, a flexible triple mode a/b/g MAC and the respective a/b/g Modems. NewLogic's solution also supports the latest .11e Quality of Service and .11i Security Extensions essential for implementing state of the art WLAN solutions. The solution offers a digital interface between the modem and radio (ADC/DAC are inside the radio IC instead of the modem), allowing efficient integration into ASICs/SoCs. The radio has an extremely low Bill of Material due to the integration of LNAs, baluns, loop filter and VCO. To address the low power requirements of the mobile market NewLogic implemented various power saving modes into the WLAN solution.

All WiLD IP blocks are available to customers today. Demonstration of the latest silicon implementation of NewLogic's IP and evaluation boards are available on request and are shown at NewLogic's booth (no.133) at the 802.11 Wi-Fi Planet Expo in San Jose.

About NewLogic Technologies

NewLogic Technologies, headquartered in Lustenau, Austria, is a leading global supplier of IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN and Bluetooth intellectual property (IP) cores and next generation cellular technology. In addition NewLogic offers IC design and IP Integration to help its customers achieve their aggressive time to market goals.