Hardware Design Guidelines—Intel®IXP43X Product Line of Network Processors

3.8UTOPIA Level 2 Interface

The IXP43X network processors support the industry-standard UTOPIA Level 2 bus interface. A dedicated Network Processor Engine (NPE) handles segmentation and reassembly of ATM cells, CRC checking/generation, and transfer of data to/from memory. This allows parallel processing of data traffic on the UTOPIA interface, off-loading processor overhead required by the Intel XScale® Processor.

The UTOPIA module is configured as a master and can support single-PHY (SPHY) or multi-PHY (MPHY).

The IXP43X network processors are in compliance with the ATM Forum, UTOPIA Level 2 Specification, Revision 1.0. For optimal design results, the guidelines of the specification should be followed.

3.8.1Signal Interface

Table 14.

UTOPIA Level 2/MII_A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Type

Pull

 

 

Name

 

Up/

Description

 

 

Field

 

 

 

Down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UTOPIA Level 2 Mode of Operation:

 

 

 

 

 

UTOPIA Level 2 Transmit clock input. Also known as UTP_TX_CLK. This signal is

 

 

 

 

 

used to synchronize all UTOPIA Level 2 transmit output to the rising edge of the

 

 

 

 

 

UTP_OP_CLK.

UTP_OP_CLK /

 

I

Yes

MII Mode of Operation:

ETHA_TXCLK

 

Externally supplied transmit clock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• 25 MHz for 100 Mbps operation

 

 

 

 

 

• 2.5 MHz for 10 Mbps

 

 

 

 

 

When this interface/signal is enabled and is not being used in a system design,

 

 

 

 

 

the interface/signal should be pulled high with a 10-KΩresistor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UTOPIA Level 2 flow control output signal. Also known as the TXENB_N signal.

 

 

 

 

 

Used to inform the selected PHY about data transmission. Placing the PHY’s

 

 

 

 

 

address on the UTP_OP_ADDR and bringing UTP_OP_FCO to logic 1 during the

UTP_OP_FCO

 

TRI

Yes

current clock, followed by the UTP_OP_FCO going to a logic 0, on the next clock

 

cycle, selects the PHY that is active in MPHY mode.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In SPHY configurations, UTP_OP_FCO is used to inform the PHY that the

 

 

 

 

 

processor is ready to send data.

 

 

 

 

 

This signal is tied to Vcc with an external 10-KΩresistor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Start of Cell. Also known as TX_SOC.

UTP_OP_SOC

 

TRI

Yes

Active high signal is asserted when UTP_OP_DATA contains first valid byte of a

 

transmitted cell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This signal is tied to Vss with an external 10-KΩresistor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UTOPIA Level 2 Mode of Operation:

 

 

 

 

 

UTOPIA Level 2 output data. Also known as UTP_TX_DATA. Used to send data

UTP_OP_DATA[3:0] /

 

 

from the processor to an ATM UTOPIA Level 2-compliant PHY.

TRI

No

MII Mode of Operation:

ETHA_TXDATA[3:0]

Transmit data bus to PHY, asserted synchronously with respect to ETHA_TXCLK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This MAC interface does not contain hardware hashing capabilities that are local

 

 

 

 

 

to the interface. In this mode of operation the pins represented by this interface

 

 

 

 

 

are ETHA_TXDATA[3:0].

 

 

 

 

 

††

Refer to the Intel® IXP43X Product Line of Network Processors Developer’s Manual for information on how to select an

 

interface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intel® IXP43X Product Line of Network Processors

April 2007

HDG

Document Number: 316844; Revision: 001US

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Intel IXP43X manual Utopia Level 2 Interface, Utopia Level 2/MIIA, Type Pull Name Description Field Down