Ethernet–USB Bridge Application-Specific Integrated Circuit Incorporating the User Datagram Protocol and Address Resolution Protocol

Abstract

An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bridge for translating and transmitting data between Ethernet and USB was developed in this study. The Ethernet packets of this device are in the IEEE 802.3 standard frame format and transmitted over a 1-Gbit media-independent interface. The device supports the user datagram and address resolution protocols with high transfer speeds. The proposed hardware solution achieves a higher data throughput (682.13 Mbps) than conventional software-based solutions. Its design was validated on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and the ASIC was then fabricated using the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company 0.18- $\mu $ m CMOS process. The fabricated ASIC’s power consumption, gate count, and chip area were 74.68 mW, 50 100, and $1.199\times 1.196$ mm2, respectively. Moreover, its operating frequency was 125 MHz under a power supply voltage of 1.8 V. The proposed bridge had high throughput and low latency on the FPGA, and the ASIC package was robust, convenient to use, and energy efficient.

Keywords

• Ethernet packet
• USB data
• UDP
• ARP
• FPGA board
• ASIC