Abstract:A novel frequency hopping (FH) sequences generator based on advanced encryption standard (AES) iterated block cipher is proposed for FH communication systems. The analysis shows that the FH sequences based on AES algorithm have good performance in uniformity, correlation, complexity and security. A high-speed, low-power and low-cost ASIC of FH sequences generator is implemented by optimizing the structure of S-Box and MixColumns of AES algorithm, proposing a hierarchical power management strategy, and applying the dynamic clock gating technology based on finite state machine and clock gating. SMIC 0.18 μm standard CMOS technology shows that the scale of ASIC is only about 10.68 kgate, power consumption is 33.8 μW/MHz, and the maximum hop-rate is 1 098 901 hop/s. This design is suitable for portable FH communication system for its advantages in high-security and hop-rate, low-power and low-cost. The proposed FH sequences generator has been employed in Bluetooth SoC design. Keywords:frequency hopping sequences; advanced encryption standard; low-power; low-cost; application specific integrated circuit Recently, frequency hopping (FH) spread spectrum systems have become increasingly popular in military radio communication, mobile communication, modern radar and sonar echolocation systems for their excellent anti-jamming and multiple access properties [1] . Families of FH sequences, which are used to specify the transmission frequency at a given time, play an important role in FH communications. For Bluetooth network communication, the performance in security and antijamming based on the original FH sequences constructed by papilionaceous algorithm cannot satisfy the requirements of communication, especially in military fields. Although some FH sequences based on block ciphers were proposed for Bluetooth in Refs. [2, 3], the higher requirements for security, power consumption and cost were not discussed in detail. As we know, the higher performance means the increase of complexity and cost, so designing an FH sequences generator with good performance not only in uniformity, correlation, complexity and security, but also in hop-rate, power consumption and cost is a big challenge. In this paper, the performance of FH pattern based on the advanced encryption standard (AES) block cipher mechanism is analyzed, and then a high hop-rate, low-power and lowcost ASIC of the FH sequences generator is implemented.