ADM5120
Function Description
3.2 PHY
3.2.1 PHY Overview
The ADM5120 is an embedded 5 ports Ethernet PHY device. It is capable of operating
at either 10Mbps or 100Mbps. The PHY is associated with the Physical Layer of the OSI
model. The PHY performs functions between the Medium Dependent Interface (MDI)
and the internal MAC of switch. According to the IEEE 802.3u, the PHY contains the
Physical Coding Sublayer (PCS), Physical Medium Attachment (PMA), Physical
medium Dependent (PMD), and the optional Auto- Negotiation functions.
In the 100BASE-TX mode, the internal PHY takes the data from the MACs then
performs the physical layer 4B/5B encoding, scrambling, parallel to serial conversion,
NRZ to NRZI conversion, and NRZI to MLT-3 conversion for transmission over the UTP
CAT 5 cable.
The receive paths use an adaptive equalizer to take MLT-3 signals from the cable,
performs clock recovery, performs a MLT-3 to NRZI conversion, a NRZI to NRZ
conversion, de-scrambling the data, 4B/5B decoding, performs data alignment, stores the
data in an elasticity buffer and then converts to nibble data that is applied to the MACs.
Auto-Negotiation, carrier sense, collision detection is implemented in the device logic.
Similarly, in the 10BASE-T mode, Manchester encoding and decoding is used with two
level transmitted and received data on CAT 3 cable.
3.2.2 Link Detect
The 10Base-T and the 100Base-TX have different means of signaling link integrity. The
link detect function uses a counter to count the number of edges in the receive signal over
a given period. When enough edges are counted on three consecutive periods, link detect
is established. The number of edges will determine whether the link is 10Base-T or
100Base-TX.
3.2.3 Auto-Negotiation
An Auto-Negotiation (AN) mechanism as defined in the IEEE 802.3u is implemented.
When AN function is enabled, the mode of operation will be automatically chosen by
advertising its abilities and comparing them with those received from its link partner.
Each transceiver port can advertise 100Base-Tx full duplex, 100Base-T half duplex, and
10Base-T full or half duplex. Each transceiver will negotiate independently with its link
partner and choose the highest level of operation available for its own link. The CPU can
set this enable/disable/force via the registers.
3.2.4 Digital Adaptive Equalizer
ADMtek Inc.
3-2
100Base-TX transmission through the transmission media causes signal distortion
characterized as wideband loss, baseline wander, jitter, frequency errors, and intersymbol