MICROCIRCUIT DATA SHEET
Original Creation Date: 03/28/94
Last Update Date: 11/12/98
Last Major Revision Date: 10/27/98
MNDP83932B-VF REV 1A0
Systems-Oriented Network Interface Controller
General Description
The SONIC (Systems-Oriented Network Interface Controller) is a second-generation Ethernet
Controller designed to meet the demands of today's high-speed 32 and 16-bit systems. Its
system interface operates with a high speed DMA that typically consumes less than 5% of
the bus bandwidth. Selectable bus modes provide both big and little endian byte ordering
and a clean interface to standard microprocessors. The linked-list buffer management
system of SONIC offers maximum flexibilityin a variety of environments from PC-oriented
adapters to high-speed motherboard designs. Furthermore, the SONIC integrates a
fully-compatible IEEE 802.3 Encoder/Decoder (ENDEC) allowing for a simple 2-chip solution
for Ethernet when the SONIC is paired with the DP8392 Coaxial Transceiver Interface or a
twisted pair interface.
For increased performance, the SONIC implements a unique buffer management scheme to
efficiently process receive and transmit packets in system memory. No intermediate packet
copy is necessary. The receive buffer management uses three areas in memory for (1)
allocating additional resources, (2) indicating status information, and (3) buffering
packet data. During reception, the SONIC stores packets in the buffer area, then
indicates receive status and control information in the descriptor area. The system
allocates more memory resources to the SONIC by adding descriptors to the memory resource
area. The transmit buffer management uses two areas in memory: one for indicating status
and control information and the other for fetching packet data. The system can create a
transmit queue allowing multiple packets to be transmitted from a single transmit command.
The packet data can reside on any arbitrary byte boundary and can exist in several
non-contiguous locations.
Industry Part Number
NS Part Numbers
DP83932BVF
DP83932BVF-MPC
Prime Die
DP73932
Processing
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Temp ( oC)
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