Efficient FPGA Implementation of AES 128 Bit for IEEE 802.16e Mobile WiMax Standards

In the present era of high speed communication, wireless technology plays a predominant role in data transmission. In the timeline of wireless domain, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee are some of the standards used in today’s wireless medium. In addition, WiMax is introduced by IEEE as IEEE 802.16 standard for long distance communication, and mobile WiMax as 802.16e. WiMax is an acronym of worldwide interoperability for microwave access. It helps to provide wireless transmission with high quality of service in a secured environment. Privacy across the network and access control is the predominant goal in the wireless protocol. In the wireless environment one of the most widely used security algorithms in MAC layer is Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Especially Medium Access Control (MAC) sub layer should be evaluated in the security architecture. AES is used in the MAC layer that consumes more power and involves high cost. So, in this paper an optimized architecture of AES 128 bit counter mode security algorithm for MAC layer of 802.16e standard is proposed. The SBOX and MixColumn transformation are modified in the architecture of AES to achieve optimized power and delay. The design has been implemented in Xilinx virtex5 device and power has been analyzed using XPower analyzer. It is compared with two standard existing architectures. The simulation results revealed a power reduction of 41% compared to existing one.