Ethernet switches support key TSN IEEE standards in a single chip

Microchip Technology Inc. has announced its SparX-5i family of Ethernet switches – a single-chip, IEEE standards-based solution that claims the industry’s most complete time sensitive networking (TSN) feature set. The SparX-5i family is Microchip’s first device in a line of TSN switches that will address industrial automation network applications from the field bus to the factory backbone.

TSN makes Ethernet deterministic, eliminating the need for separate information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) networks. However, to accomplish this it often requires the use of multi-chip proprietary solutions, which increases complexity and costs for developers, said Microchip.

The company’s new SparX-5i family solves this problem by supporting  the key TSN IEEE standards needed for a complete real-time communication solution in a single chip. This guarantees end-to-end transmission of high-priority traffic with extremely low latency, said the company.

The standards supported include IEEE 1588v2 and IEEE 802.1AS-REV profile for Time Synchronization, IEEE 802.1Qbv for Traffic Shaping, IEEE 802.1Qbu/802.3br for Delay Reduction, IEEE 802.1Qci for Stream Policing and IEEE 802.1CB for Seamless Redundancy. The family also supports standard L2/L3 Ethernet with up to 200G of bandwidth, incorporating 100M, 1G, 2.5G, 5G, 10G,and 25 GbE interfaces.

In addition, Microchip offers the SparX-5 family of enterprise Ethernet switches that support standard L2/L3 Ethernet with up to 200G of bandwidth, incorporating 100M, 1G, 2.5G, 5G, 10G and 25 GbE interfaces.

Microchip also offers the VSC6817SDK IStaX Linux Application Software as a turnkey industrial Ethernet switch software solution to support Microchip’s managed Ethernet switch devices. It’s highly integrated with advanced L2+ switch features, such as QCLs and ACLs, and includes support for key TSN features. An Ethernet Switch and PHY Application Programming Interface (VSC6803API) – MESA – provides a comprehensive function library that is operating-system independent.

SparX-5i and SparX-5 switches are available in volume production. Evaluation boards and reference designs are available upon request. Click here for the datasheet (PDF).