Real time implementation on FPGA of an OFDM based wireless LAN modem extended with adaptive loading

Future wireless applications target multimedia and high-speed internet access, all requiring techniques to improve the link capacity and robustness. For wireless Local Area Network (LAN) the standards have chosen orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) as modulation scheme. An extension beyond the standards to improve the link capacity is adaptive loading. This paper presents the implementation aspects of an OFDM based wireless LAN modem together with adaptive loading on field programmable gate array (FPGA). The FPGA implementation of the wireless LAN modem enhances rapid prototyping and allows flexible integration of extensions to improve the quality of service. Implementation results are given and a comparison is made with an ASIC implementation of the modem. The wireless LAN system will be demonstrated on a generic platform that is developed for prototyping and demonstration of high speed communication systems.