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Arty A7-based prototype of SatCat5 with customized swap I/O board. (Credit score: The Aerospace Company)
To the common microcontroller, Ethernet networks are fairly a step up from the fundamental I2C, SPI and UART interfaces, requiring both a built-in Ethernet MAC or SPI-based MAC, with tedious translation between Ethernet and people different interfaces. But what if this translation could possibly be completed routinely and transparently? That is what the SatCat5 FPGA-based venture by [The Aerospace Corporation] goals to supply: a gateway akin to an unmanaged Ethernet swap that additionally helps these non-Ethernet hyperlinks. Just lately they answered a variety of questions concerning the venture on Hacker Information.
The venture identify comes from the first audience: smallsat and cubesat builders, which is an space the place having the ability to route extra site visitors over a typical Ethernet-based bus is a serious boon. The offered Xilinx Artix-7-based reference design (pictured) offers a good suggestion of how it may be used: it combines an Arty A7 growth board with a customized PCB containing an Ethernet swap IC (SJA1105), TJA1100 transceiver, two RJ45 jacks and 4 PMOD connectors, right here linked to 2 UARTs for bidirectional communication between them. Ethernet body encapsulation is offered utilizing the usual Serial Line Web Protocol (SLIP), with extra particulars coated within the FAQ. At a minimal an FPGA like a Lattice iCE40 is required, with an MCU able to utilizing the offered C++ libraries, or a customized implementation.
Because of [STR-Alorman] for the tip.
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