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Ethernet frame protocols

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yazenalali

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Hi,

I am trying for days to get an answer about Ethernet protocols specialized for sending a text or an image to a computer from a FPGA and PHY chip with my kit. I have worked on the interface between the FPGA and the chip, so know I can send whatever sort of data bytes on the Ethernet port. Then I have decided to send a text or an image to the computer through the Ethernet, so I looked for something like this on the web and found that I need to send them through some sort of a protocol like FTP, HTTP,....etc for text files, but my problem is I can't find or perhaps understand how in the world these protocols work and how the data bytes is structured inside the frame packet for such a protocol.

I know about TCP/IP or UDP/IP and how they are structured, but what I need is the application layer protocols.
Please I need someone to help me with this as I don't have much experience with network links and protocols.

Thanks,
 

I am basically a hardware guy with no experience in embedded sw development. Answering this with reference to Xilinx FPGA and I am only speculating (have never done it myself before).

Not sure if I answer your question, but did you try developing the higher level protocol stacks with Xilinx SDK?
If not image, the SDK might be used to package simple text and then send it over to the MAC.

I would connect a Xilinx microBlaze processor to the AXI-Stream side of the MAC tx/rx data. They I would try writing some software for the microblaze that would generate the data packets.
 

I am basically a hardware guy with no experience in embedded sw development. Answering this with reference to Xilinx FPGA and I am only speculating (have never done it myself before).

Not sure if I answer your question, but did you try developing the higher level protocol stacks with Xilinx SDK?
If not image, the SDK might be used to package simple text and then send it over to the MAC.

I would connect a Xilinx microBlaze processor to the AXI-Stream side of the MAC tx/rx data. They I would try writing some software for the microblaze that would generate the data packets.

Thanks for your reply.
First of all I am using an altera FPGA and I want to implement my project without using a processor. To simplify my question it is all about the application layer of the Ethernet packet and how to use the protocols for sending text, file or an image.
 

There is a reason the application layer is done in software, it's not very simple to do in hardware. I've never heard of anyone trying to make a hardware text editor or a hardware email program, etc.

You'll probably have to use a rather complex FSM to just do the TCP/IP layer. Get the software for the TCP/IP layer and see how it's done then translate it to a hardware FSM to perform the same encapsulation. You'll also require buffers to keep the data you are transmitting to perform retransmits.

With the testing required to verify the upper layers it will likely be a lot more effort than just putting in a Nios II and the software TCP/IP stack.

But the problem seems to be more of a problem on the PC side. You should be able to just send a simple UDP packet to the PC and write SOFTWARE on the PC to interpret the UDP packets anyway you want. Hardware implementations of UDP are simple to make in an FPGA unlike a TCP/IP stack. I think you should be looking at what it takes to control your PC to interpret UDP (which I have no idea about writing drivers application software on a PC).
 
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