
7. Functional Description
RTL8208
2001/01/07
19
Rev.1.923
7.1 General
7.1.1 SMI (Serial Management Interface)
SMI (Serial Management Interface) is also known as MII Management Interface, which consists of two signals, MDIO and
MDC; allowing the MAC controller to control and monitor the state of the PHY. MDC is a clock input for PHY to latch MDIO on
its rising edge. The clock can run from DC to 25MHz. MDIO is a bi-directional connection used to write data to, or read data
from PHY. The PHY address base is set by pins PHY_ADDR[4:3] and eight ports addresses of RTL8208 are internally
000,001,010,011,100,101,110,and 111.
SMI Read/Write Cycles
Preamble
(32 bits)
1……..1
1……..1
Start
(2 bits)
01
01
OP Code
(2 bits)
10
01
PHYAD
(5 bits)
AAAAA
AAAAA
REGAD
(5 bits)
RRRRR
RRRRR
TurnAround
(2 bits)
Z0
10
Data
(16 bits)
D…….D
D…….D
Idle
Z*
Z*
Read
Write
*Z: high-impedance. During idle time, MDIO state is determined by an external 1.5K
pull-up resistor.
The RTL8208 supports Preamble Suppression, which allows the MAC to issue Read/Write Cycles without preamble bits (but
needs at least one Idle for every cycle). However, for the first MII management cycle after power-on reset, a 32-bit preamble is
needed. To guarantee the first successful SMI transaction after power-on reset, the MAC should be delayed at least 700us to issue
the first SMI Read/Write Cycle relative to the rising edge of reset.
7.1.2 Port Pair Loop Back Mode (PP-LPBK)
PP-LPBK mode is enabled by pulling pin 81 high on reset. When in PP-LPBK mode, the ports of the RTL8208 is configured as
four pairs, port0 & port1, port2 & port3, port4 & port5, and port 6 & port7. Each pair are set as RMII interface loop back, acting
like a signal regeneration /transformation repeater, so a switch controller is not necessary.
In PP-LPBK mode, TP port and FX port selection is different from that in normal mode. The TP and FX port selection
configuration is as follows:
For this table, “U” means UTP port, “F” means Fiber port.
PP-LPBK
mode
(Pin 81)
0
(normal mode)
SEL_TXFX[1:0]
(Pin 99,107)
Port0, Port1
Port2, Port3
Port4, Port5 Port6, Port7
0 0
0 1
1 0
1 1
0 0
0 1
1 0
1 1
U U
U U
U U
F F
U U
U U
U F
F F
U U
U U
U U
F F
U U
U U
U F
F F
U U
U U
U U
F F
U U
U F
U F
F F
U U
U F
F F
F F
U U
U F
U F
F F
1
(PP-LPBK)
Since this configuration is a loop back mode, it uses Full duplex only, and Half duplex is not supported. The loop-back-pair ports
should be configured as the same Speed. Although this mode does not effect normal N-Way mode, in order to keep in the same
speed for each pair’s two ports, there is an auto-detection scheme. This scheme specifies that if one port of the pair is already
linked, when the other port is linked later, the earlier link-on port will re-start Auto-negotiation, trying to keep the two ports
linked at the same speed. When PP-LPBK mode is set, there are three requirements: It must be based upon RMII mode; no
switch controller is connected; and TX_EN[7:0] is pulled down.