Ethernet development system board for evaluating ethernet switch and PHY products

Microchip Technology SAMA5D3 Ethernet Development System Board is an MPU-based platform for evaluating Ethernet Switch and PHY products. Compatible Ethernet switch and PHY evaluation boards connect to the EDS board via either an RGMII connector or an RMII connector. The board is not designed for stand-alone use and has no Ethernet capabilities when no daughter board is connected. The board comes with pre-installed Linux and Ethernet drivers. When joined to an Ethernet switch evaluation board, the software, which is included, can run protocols such as RSTP, DHCP, and PTP (1588). Users can obtain registers and statistics counters in the PHY or switch, set up VLAN and other configurations in a switch, and complete traffic testing to and from the MCU. Source code is provided for download from the website for this board, and users may alter and append to it for their needs. This board is built around a Cortex-A5-based processor with on-board SDRAM and Flash memory, two Ethernet MACs (one gigabit and one 100Mbit), three USB ports, an iSD card slot, and a Serial UART interface. It is similar to the SAMA5D3 Xplained Evaluation Board, but with the PHYs removed and substituted by the RMII and RGMII connectors. The two boards have the same development environment.