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sa261die's avatar
sa261die
Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
3 years ago

USB to Ethernet Bridge via Cyclon10

Hello community,

I ask myself if there is a way to transfer USB data via Ethernet. Here a host should be connected via USB to a FPGA, the FPGA should be connected via Ethernet to another FPGA and this FPGA should be connected via USB to the device. Does anyone have experience with this topic or can tell me which components I need? Do I need a ULPI interface or a SIE?

Best wishes

5 Replies

  • Wincent_Altera's avatar
    Wincent_Altera
    Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
    3 years ago

    Hi,


    I am WeiChuan from Intel Support team. There is multilple way to do that.

    I might need to know more information about your system for us to provide the best suggestion.

    1. As stated in the description, can I know why you connect a few FPGA devices together using either USB or Ethernet?
    2. Why do you choose to connect FPGA1 via USB, while FPGA2 via ethernet? is there any transfer speed concern or it is based on design ?
    3. Is it possible to use USB-Ethernet Adapter ?


    Regards,

    WeiChuan_Intel

  • sa261die's avatar
    sa261die
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    3 years ago

    Dear WeiChuan,

    Thanks for your answer.
    Yes I am concerned about the transmission speed and the cable length which exceeds 5m.

    • Wincent_Altera's avatar
      Wincent_Altera
      Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
      3 years ago

      Hi,

      If you are concerned about the transmission speed and cable length. Technically, you can connect FPGA's anyway you want such as SPI, I2C, PCI, PCI Express, LVDS, DDR, etc.
      For a slow-speed connection, you can use UART using two data lines + GND only to communicate between FPGAs.
      If you need high speed, then you can use LVDS or some other transceivers with standard or custom protocol, provided the board and the FPGA supports it.

      Anyway, ak6dn provides a good suggestion as well where you can take into reference/consideration

      • Wincent_Altera's avatar
        Wincent_Altera
        Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
        3 years ago

        Hi,

        We do not receive any response from you to the previous answer that I have provided. This thread will be transitioned to community support. If you have a new question, feel free to open a new thread to get support from Intel experts. Otherwise, the community users will continue to help you on this thread. Thank you

        Regards,

        WeiChuan_Intel

  • ak6dn's avatar
    ak6dn
    Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
    3 years ago

    Not sure that using an FPGA at either end provides much of a benefit, and it does add a lot of complexity.

    You are doing HOST --- USB --- ETHERNET ... ETHERNET --- USB --- DEVICE.

    Why not just HOST --- ETHERNET? What HOST does not have an ethernet interface these days?

    And for ETHERNET --- USB at the device end, why not just a small CPU with ethernet and USB master interfaces?

    Unless you intend for the FPGA(s) to do some significant data processing on the streams, they are basically being wasted.

    As an example, the new RaspberryPI 4 board has wired gigabit ethernet and USB 2.0/3.1 ports.