| Connecting Embedded Systems |
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| ASIX is a Leading Fabless Semiconductor Company for Embedded Networking Solutions |
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| There is a growing need to add network connectivity into every embedded system. According to the projection from Forrester, by year 2020, the global thing-to-thing Internet business and the current people-to-people Internet business would reach a ratio of 30:1. IOT will realize large-scale popularity and will be developed into a trillion-US-Dollar industry. In other words, the network connectivity of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IOT) communications will be the primary market demand for the embedded networking system for the years to come. |
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| The Ethernet's ease of use, cost effectiveness, high bandwidth, stability, security, and high degree of compatibility make it a natural solution for accessing the Internet. In addition to SOHO and corporate networks, the Ethernet is gradually making its way into consumer and household devices as a primary way to access the Internet, thus providing both the stability and reliability demanded by industrial users and the bandwidth and multimedia connectivity demanded by home consumers. |
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| ASIX Electronics is a leading fabless semiconductor supplier with a focus on networking, communication, and connectivity applications. ASIX was founded in May 1995 in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan. ASIX Electronics specializes in network connectivity solutions and provides Ethernet-centric silicon products such as non-PCI Ethernet controllers, USB-to-LAN controllers, and network system-on-a-chip SoC products for embedded networking applications. |
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| Fig 1 ASIX Product Portfolio for Ethernet/Wi-Fi Connectivity |
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| ASIX Electronics has established a good track record by providing the following products, which are the world's first: |
| Non-PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller: AX88180 |
| USB2.0-to-Gigabit Ethernet Controller: AX88178 |
| Single-chip Microcontroller with TCP/IP, 10/100M Fast Ethernet MAC/PHY, and flash memory: AX110xx series |
| The industry's smallest single-chip embedded Ethernet MCU in an 8x8mm 80-pin TFBGA package: AX11005BF |
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| ASIX Provides Four Different Embedded Ethernet Solutions |
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| ASIX Electronics provides innovative, and yet cost-effective products to the customers for emerging communication and networking applications. The current offerings are as follows: |
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| Embedded Ethernet (Non-PCI or Local Bus): |
| 2-port Ethernet |
| | - | Non-PCI Fast Ethernet: AX88783, AX88782 |
| | - | PCI Fast Ethernet: AX88742 |
| | - | MII/RMII Fast Ethernet: AX88613 |
| 1-port Ethernet |
| | - | Non-PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller: AX88180 |
| | - | Non-PCI Fast Ethernet Controller: AX88780, AX88796C, AX88796B, AX88196B and AX88796 |
| | - | PCMCIA Fast Ethernet Controller: AX88790 |
| High-speed USB-to-LAN: |
| | - | USB Hub/Ethernet Combo Controller: AX88760 |
| | - | USB2.0-to-Gigabit Ethernet Controller: AX88178 |
| | - | USB2.0-to-Fast Ethernet Controller: AX88772B, AX88772A, AX88172A and AX88772 |
| Embedded Network SoC: |
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Single-chip Microcontroller with TCP/IP, 10/100M Fast Ethernet MAC/PHY, and flash memory: AX11001, AX11005, AX11015, and AX11025 |
| | - | Single Chip Microcontroller with TCP/IP and 802.11 WLAN MAC/Baseband: AX22001 and AX22011 |
| I/O Connectivity: |
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PCIe Bridge: MCS9900, MCS9901, MCS9904, MCS9922, MCS9990 |
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PCI Bridge: MCS9865, MCS9845, MCS9835, MCS9820, MCS9815 and MCS9805 |
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USB Bridge: MCS7832, MCS7830, MCS7840, MCS7820, MCS7780, MCS7720, MCS7715 and MCS7705 |
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| Fig 2 Embedded networking Solution Provider |
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| Embedded Ethernet |
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| This solution targets devices with micro-controller, which comes without PCI bus interface, but with a non-PCI or SRAM type interface. In this case, the highly integrated Non-PCI bus Ethernet MAC+PHY controller is used to connect these devices to Ethernet. This solution provides the easiest way to connect the embedded system to the network for the reason that majority of the micro-controller all support Non-PCI local bus interface. Engineers are able to design very-low-cost, and yet high-performance embedded systems, which offer remote access capabilities in addition to Internet connectivity. This solution is suitable for home appliances, factory/building automation, industrial equipment, security systems, remote control/monitoring/management, streaming media, and multimedia networking. In addition, for broadband applications such as POS terminals, WLAN AP, broadband routers, VoIP, content distribution, IP STB, IP cameras, digital video recorders, DVD recorders/players, high-definition TV (HDTV), digital media adapters, game consoles, home gateways, and IPTV, this solution can also be attractive and cost effective.
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| Fig 3 Monitor, Control, or Access Your Device over the Internet |
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| High-Speed USB-to-LAN |
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| This solution targets microcontrollers that already have a USB host interface embedded. In this case, an internal or external USB-to-LAN controller can be used to connect these devices to the Ethernet. |
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| The proliferation of the broadband infrastructure and the associated new business model has made services such as IPTV and media on demand (MoD) possible. In the future, users will demand higher-quality multimedia content that can be downloaded through a home broadband connection and transferred onto mobile devices. |
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| The so-called USB-to-LAN approach converts an USB 2.0 signal to the Fast Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet interface through an USB-to-LAN controller used in the cradle or docking station for the mobile devices. Because the USB 2.0 uses a compact four-pin connector, this solution reduces many of the pin-out connections between the cradle/docking station and the mobile devices. Another, more flexible way is to use an external USB-to-LAN dongle to connect the mobile devices to the network if the microcontroller within the devices has a built-in USB host interface. This will leverage the high-speed and serial bus characteristic of USB2.0, to improve the performance of the devices. |
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| This solution is suitable for computer peripherals, handheld devices, home electronics and appliances, streaming media, broadband media, and other consumer electronics such as for Notebooks/MIDs/UMPCs/Tablet PCs, USB to Ethernet dongles, cradles/port replicators/docking stations, game consol, digital-home appliances, and any embedded system using a standard USB port. |
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| Fig 4 This USB LAN Solution is a Market Leader |
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| Embedded Network SoC |
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| This solution is those micro-controllers, which already integrate both Ethernet and Wi-Fi Connectivities, the so-called single chip SoC solution. The AX110xx family is the world's first high-performance 8-bit microcontroller to deliver the 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet MAC/PHY, the TCP/IP accelerator, and the flash memory in a single chip. With this highly integrated system-on-a-chip solution, the AX110xx family provides a very small form-factor solution to enable embedded system designers to design compact, low-power, high-performance, yet low-cost, embedded and industrial Ethernet applications for the growing embedded networking markets.
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| Fig 5 Network MCU Connecting Directly to the Internet |
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| The AX220xx family is a single chip micro-controller with TCP/IP and 802.11 WLAN MAC/baseband. Leveraging prevalent Wi-Fi infrastructure in home and office environment, the new single-chip Wi-Fi SoC, AX220xx family, provides cost competitive wireless connectivity solution for bridging uncompressed digital audio data, compressed digital video data and serial/parallel user data through its versatile interfaces over the Wi-Fi network. This solution makes the devices very compact, and is suitable for home appliances, factory/building automation, industrial equipments, security systems, remote control/monitoring/management, and streaming media applications such as Wi-Fi speakers, iPhone-controlled toys, POS terminals, vending machines, IP camera, Internet radio, automatic meter reading, environmental monitoring systems, network sensors, networked UPS, Serial to Ethernet/Wi-Fi adapters, and Ethernet/Wi-Fi to ZigBee bridges, Ethernet to Wi-Fi bridges, can also find this solution quite attractive in cost, space, and power consumption-wise.
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| Fig 6 Wireless MCU Connecting Directly to the Internet |
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| Fig 7 AX220xx Application Diagram |
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| Please visit our website at http://www.asix.com.tw/news.php?op=AsixWhitePaper for ASIX white paper. |
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