FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to computer networking equipment and methods of operating the same.

BACKGROUND

Doubly encrypting data is often needed in order to comply with the security standards from government agencies, such as the National Security Agency (NSA). Unfortunately, current radio frequency (RF) computer networking equipment is not capable of providing doubly encrypted data in an efficient and cost-effective manner. This is because currently, a combination of products such as modems, switches, and routers are needed in order to build secure network tunnels between end points. Secure network tunnels built in this manner also require encryption devices at both ends of the enclave. Furthermore, unsecure network traffic cannot be transmitted through these secure tunnels due to the encryption devices at both ends. Thus, separate unsecure network tunnels are required to transmit unsecure traffic. As a result, current RF networking equipment can take up to approximately 30% of the available bandwidth for secure transmission overhead, thereby leaving only 70% of the bandwidth for the encrypted data payload.

What is needed are more efficient systems for providing secure RF computer networking links.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of a data transmission network device and methods of operating the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the data transmission network device includes an encryption module and an RF transceiver. The encryption module is configured to receive data and encrypt the data so as to generate first encrypted data. The encryption module then encrypts the first encrypted data so as to generate second encrypted data. The RF transceiver is configured to generate an RF signal such that the second encrypted data is modulated onto the RF signal. By providing the double encryption in a single device, the data transmission network device has greater spectral efficiency and is a much more cost-effective solution than what is currently provided in the market. Furthermore, the encryption module's encryption functionality can be disabled so that unsecure data can also be transmitted via the data transmission network device.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the present disclosure and realize additional aspects thereof after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments in association with the accompanying drawing figures.

