M-Link network

M-Link is the ultra-high speed network interface.

Highlights

PCI-Express, 200 MB/s throughput
Fiber-optic and copper networks
FPGA implementation
Cost effective

M-Link Network Card

Multiple speed grades available: 800 Mbps, 1 Gbps, 2 Gbps, 2.5Gbps. Both optical and copper media interfaces are available. Optical interface use LX connectors and use multi-mode cable up to 300 meters. Copper interface use RJ-45 connectors and require high quality Category 6 STP cable for long runs.

The M-Link network cards use 8b/10b encoding with TLK1501/TLK2501 serdes chipset. Error detection is done with TLK chips. Bidirectional flow control is implemented at hardware level.

M-Link network cards are available with PCI or PCI-Express interface.

Mezzanine carrier card

M-Link mezzanine carrier is a PMC board with one 64-pin connector. It has duplex 16-bit data bus with speed 40..125 MHz, 2.5V CMOS signals. The connector is 64-pin AMP 120521-1 (receptacle), the daughter-boards have AMP 120527-1 plug. Mezzanine board size may vary from 75 mm x 110 mm to full size PCI 107 mm x 312 mm. The mezzanine assembly occupy one standard PCI slot. Component height spacing on mezzanine board is 10 mm top size and 2mm bottom size.

Specifications

Physical Layer

Optical or copper media - network cards
64-pin connector - mezzanine cards
Point-to-Point bidirectional links
0.8 - 2.5 Gbps line speeds
Hardware flow control
Hardware frame validation (CRC32)
Syncronization events for process control

Data Link Layer

Data is packed in frames with header, payload and CRC32
Frame sequence numbering for data integrity
2028 bytes packet data payload

Host bus

PCI 32-bit 33MHz - 116 MB/s sustained throughput
PCI-Express 1x - 205 MB/s