MAC SoC hardware implementation for fast industrial WLAN communication systems

Abstract

This paper presents a System on a Chip (SoC) Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation for Media Access Control (MAC) layer of a fast industrial Wireless Local Area Network (iWLAN) protocol, which is used to control industrial robots in factory automation environments. This protocol is a potential technique for industrial wireless communication system by using the Low overhead Packet Division Multiple Access (PDMA) scheme controlled by MAC layer. In our previous research, the MAC layer hardware was implemented and tested on simulation software, but the SoC design for the MAC layer has not been implemented and real tested on the FPGA. In this paper, we have successfully implemented the SoC system for MAC layer of this high-speed wireless communication protocol on the FPGA.