IEEE 802.15.4 is the low-power wireless standard that is used by ZigBee Alliance as a base of its ZigBee™ specification. The security design of IEEE 802.15.4 uses the CCM* mode of the AES cipher for encryption and message authentication. The CCMZ cores are tuned for low-power IEEE 802.15.4 applications.
CCMZ1 core is slightly larger and uses flow-trough design with key and nonce in the data stream; CCMZ2 core has dedicated inputs for key and nonce.
Cores contain the base AES core AES1 and are available for immediate licensing.
The design is fully synchronous and available in both source and netlist form.
Symbol
Key Features
Small size:
Completely self-contained: does not require external memory
Supports encryption and decryption,
Includes key expansion (scheduling)
Support for CCM* mode of the AES cipher
Flow-through design with frame header parsing
Test bench provided
Applications
IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee)
Pin Description
Name
Type
Description
CLK
Input
Core clock signal
RESET
Input
Synchronous enable signal. When LOW the core ignores all its inputs and all its outputs must be ignored.
MODE
Input
Mode. When HIGH, transmit, when LOW receive
START
Input
HIGH starting input data processing
READ
Output
Read request for the input data byte
DATA_VALID
Input
HIGH when valid data byte present on the input
WRITE
output
Write to the output interface
OUT_READY
Input
HIGH when output interface is ready to accept data byte
The CCMZ implementation fully supports the AES algorithm for 128 bit keys in Counter Mode (CTR) method of encryption with CBC message integrity check of all sizes required by the CCM* protocol of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.
The core is designed for flow-through operation, with byte-wide input and output interfaces. For CCMZ1, CCM key and nonce material precede the frame in the flow of data. Both CCMZ1 and CCMZ2 support encrypt/decrypt modes and includes on-the-fly key expansion (scheduling).
Implementation Results
Area Utilization and Performance
Representative area/resources figures are shown below.
Core
Technology
Area / Resources
CCMZ1
TSMC 0.18 µ
8K gates
CCMZ2
TSMC 0.18 µ
6K gates
Export Permits
US Bureau of Industry and Security has assigned the export control classification number 5E002 to our AES core. The core is eligible for the license exception ENC under section 740.17(A) and (B)(1) of the export administration regulations. See the licensing basics page,
for links to US government sites and more details.
Deliverables
HDL Source Licenses
Synthesizable Verilog RTL source code
Test bench (self-checking)
vectors for testbenches
Expected results
User Documentation
Netlist Licenses
Post-synthesis EDIF
Testbench (self-checking)
vectors for testbenches
Expected results
Contact Information
IP Cores, Inc.
3731 Middlefield Rd.
Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA
Phone: +1 (650) 815-7996