Overview

The Atheros AR8012 Fast Ethernet transceiver is a highly integrated physical layer device that transmits and receives high-speed data over standard category 5 (CAT 5) unshielded twisted pair cable.The AR8012 is compliant with 100 BASE-TX and 10 BASE-T IEEE 802.3 standards. The AR8012 device uses advanced mixed-signal processing technology and integrates functions such as adaptive equalization, and timing recovery to deliver substantial power savings and operation in noisy environments. The AR8012 device supports the Media Independent Interface (MII) for direct connection to a Fast Ethernet-capable MAC.The AR8012 supports the Atheros Cable Diagnostic Test (CDT) feature, which uses Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) technology to quickly and remotely identify potential cable malfunctions without deploying field support personnel or bringing down the network. The AR8012 solution detects and reports issues such as PHY malfunctions, bad/marginal cable or patch cord segments or connectors, thus significantly reducing installation time, cable debug efforts, and overall network support cost.Manufactured in the 0.13 μm standard CMOS process, the AR8012 is packaged in a 48-pin LQFP, featuring a small body size of 7 x 7 mm.

Features

• 10/100 BASE-T IEEE 802.3 compliant
• Supports MII interface
• Low power modes with internal automatic DSP power saving scheme
• Fully integrated digital adaptive equalizers All digital baseline wander correction
• Supports external 25 MHz clock source
• Automatic speed downshift mode
• Automatic MDI/MDIX crossover
• Automatic polarity correction
• Loopback modes for diagnostics
• IEEE 802.3u compliant Auto-Negotiation
• Software programmable LED modes
• Cable Diagnostic Test (CDT)
• Requires only one 3.3V power supply
• 0.13 μm digital CMOS process
• 48-pin LQFP 7 mm x 7 mm package