Section 1
Introduction
The Fast-VNET USB (A) adapter based on ATMEL AT76C503A Wireless Media Access
Controller is a network card with a rate of 1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps operating in the ISM
band using Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) transmission implementing the
IEEE 802.11b standard. For this card ATMEL currently provides Device Drivers for MS
Windows
®
98/2000, and Windows
®
Me. ATMEL also provides tools for the configuration
and firmware upgrade of the cards. These tools, as well as the installation procedure for
the MS Windows 98/2000, and Windows Me operating systems are described in this
document.
To install the adapter and operate under an operating system two pieces of software are
needed. The first one is the driver, which provides the necessary mechanisms to the
operating system in order to use the adapter as any other networking adapter. The
driver communicates with the firmware using exchange of commands (Set MIB, Get
MIB, Scan, Sync, etc.). The other piece of software needed is the code written on the
MAC chip, which is responsible for the interface with the driver, and for the implementation
of the IEEE 802.11b functions.
1.1 Package
Contents
Please make sure that your received the following with your AT76C503A-Evaluation Kit:
• Two (2) Fast-VNET USB (A) cards
• Two USB Cables
• Two antennas
• User Guide
• Firmware, Drivers, and Software Tools CD
1.2 System
Requirements
• Operating System: MS Windows 98/2000, Windows Me with Service Pack 4 or later
• Desktop PC or notebook PC with CD-ROM drive
1.3 AT76C503A
Features
AT76C503A based Fast-VNET adapters offer compliance with the IEEE 802.11b specification.
This feature allows them to communicate with wireless devices from other
manufacturers that support the standard. Among the features of the AT76C503A WLAN
MAC controller are the following:
– Wireless interface following the IEEE 802.11b standard supporting DSSS 2.4 GHz
wireless PHY
– Wireless LAN MAC Unit with ARM7TDMI RISC processor
– Integrated 128-byte transmit and 128-byte receive FIFOs, for wireless MAC layer
functions
– 16-bit PCMCIA bus interface
– Glueless SRAM interface for all MAC operations, supporting up to 16 MB of external
memory
– Integrated 6Kx32 bit internal SRAM, used for fast program code execution and
temporary storage of data
– Glueless Flash memory interface, supporting up to 16 MB on non volatile memory
for permanent storage of program code
– Enciphering/deciphering of wireless data by the implementation of the WEP
algorithm
– Supports 11, 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps rates
