User Manual

P A G E 23
mikromedia 7 CAPACITIVE U S E R M A N U A L
CONNECTIVITY
5.1 Ethernet
Ethernet is a popular computer networking technology for local area
networks (LAN). Systems communicating over Ethernet divide a stream of
data into individual packets, known as frames. Each frame contains source
and destination addresses and error-checking data so that damaged data
can be detected and re-transmitted. This makes the Ethernet protocol very
popular for communication over longer distances or in noisy environments.
Some MCUs feature an integrated Ethernet peripheral module, which
contains the entire communication stack on the chip. MCU Cards equipped
with such MCUs, are already provided with the Ethernet physical layer
transceiver IC (PHY IC). This allows the Ethernet circuit of the mikromedia
7 development board to be reduced only to isolation transformers/chokes,
a pack of TVS diodes for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection, and an
RJ-45 connector (1), allowing the development board to be safely and
reliably connected to the Ethernet network. Two LED indicators, labeled as
LNK and ACK located on the front side of the board, are used to signal the
Ethernet network status and data traffic.
1
Figure 12: RJ-45 connector view