Add virtual Ethernet ports to single port MCUs
This enhancement establishes multiple virtual Ethernet ports when only one physical Ethernet port is available on the CPU – by choosing another PHY.
Offering more than one Ethernet port is normally complex, difficult to handle, and most CPUs only have a single port Ethernet controller. It requires additional components such as external Ethernet controllers to extend the number of available ports.
Micrel/Microchip has developed switches which are able to expand one Ethernet port of the CPU into 1+n fully independent ports for the network by using the so-called Tail Tagging mode. Several ports might, for example, be needed when building a router where every port has to be addressed individually. Additionally, multiple ports can be used to create redundant networks, known as multihoming.
Port addressing is done on a pure software basis and is transparent to the outside. The new feature allows every port to have its own assigned MAC-address so that they appear like different physical hosts in a network.
Hardware to evaluate the feature takes the form of the embOS/IP Switch Board that includes an NXP Kinetis K66 CPU, Micrel/Microchip switch PHY KSZ8794CNX with three usable Ethernet ports and an on-board version of SEGGER’s popular J-Link debug probe. Tail Tagging support, together with a PHY driver, is available as an add-on. The package can be easily evaluated using SEGGER Embedded Studio, even while in evaluation mode.
More information on Tail Tagging support; https://www.segger.com/embos-ip-tail-tagging.html
Segger’s embOS/IP Switch Board; https://www.segger.com/embos-ip-switch-board.html
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