Specifications

2 Ethernet Interface Processor (EIP) Installation and Configuration
Product Description
Product Description
This section provides a description of Ethernet theory and of the EIP features and functions.
Ethernet Overview
The term Ethernet is commonly used for all carrier sense multiple access/collision detection
(CSMA/CD) local area networks (LANs) that generally conform to Ethernet specifications,
including IEEE 802.3. Ethernet Version 2 and IEEE 802.3 were based on, and developed shortly
after, Ethernet Version 1. The slight differences between Ethernet and IEEE 802.3 are implemented
in hardware, and both are supported automatically by the EIP without any hardware or software
configuration changes. Together, Ethernet and IEEE 802.3 are the most widely used local-area
network protocols. They are well suited to applications where a local communication medium must
carry sporadic, occasionally heavy traffic at high peak data rates.
Stations on a CSMA/CD LAN can access the network at any time. Before sending data, the station
listens to the network to see of it is already in use. If it is, the station waits until the network is not
in use, then transmits. A collision occurs when two stations listen for network traffic, hear none, and
transmit simultaneously. When this happens, both transmissions are damaged, and the stations must
retransmit them. The stations detect the collision and use backoff algorithms to determine when they
should retransmit.
Both Ethernet and IEEE 802.3, are broadcast networks, which means that all stations see all
transmissions. Each station must examine received frames to determine whether it is the intended
destination and, if it is, pass the frame to a higher protocol layer for processing. IEEE 802.3 specifies
several different physical layers, and Ethernet defines only one. Each IEEE 802.3 physical layer
protocol has a name that summarizes it characteristics in the format speed/signaling method/segment
length where speed is the LAN speed in Mbps, signaling method is the signaling method used (either
Baseband or Broadband), and segment length is the maximum length between stations in hundreds
of meters. For example, 10Base5 specifies a 10Mbps Baseband LAN with network segments spaced
at 500 meters. Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of Ethernet Version 2 and IEEE 802.3.
Table 1 Ethernet Version 2 and IEEE 802.3 Physical Characteristics
Ethernet
IEEE 802.3
10Base5 10Base2 10BaseT
Data Rate (Mbps) 10 10 10 10
Signaling method Baseband Baseband Baseband Baseband
Max. segment length (m) 500 500 185 100 (UTP)
Media 50-ohm coax (thick) 50-ohm coax (thick) 50-ohm coax (thin) Unshielded
twisted pair (UTP)
Topology Bus Bus Bus Star