Interfacing a Stratix10 (10G base KR phy) with x557 AT for 10G base T links

[BJona]

Hi,

i am planning to use several 1G/10G links between a Stratix10MX and some other distant FPGAs (each of them are working with a 88E1111 marvell phy). As a beginning, i would like to use the x557 AT phy in 1GbE SGMII mode.

I am reading the datasheet and i have multiple questions about it:

1. It seems that this phy only support 10G KR protocol for 10GbE operation and Stratix10 10G base KR can not operate at 1G :

• What do i have to do if i want to use the x557 in 1GbE SGMII today and 10G later?
  • Should i use a multi-rate phy on dedicated H-Tile of the Stratix 10 and connect it to lane 0 of the x557?
  • If i want to be able to use 10G, i would need a 10G KR phy transceiver on an another H-Tile of the Stratix 10?

1. Concerning the Flash memory, is it possible to avoid it and manage the phy only through MDIO?

Thank you for your patience, i didn't read all the datasheet so maybe i missed some hints answering my questions.

Best regards,

John

update : i did a mistake, 10G KR phy on stratix 10 seems not support 1GbE operation.

[Adolfo_S_Intel]

Hello John,

I am working on your case and will provide more information as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

Adolfo Sanchez

[CarlosAM_INTEL]

​Hello, @BJona​:

Thank you for contacting Intel Embedded Community.

The X557 has only been validated on 4 platforms (Purley, Harrisonville, Grangeville, and Fortville), so support for attaching this PHY to a different platform is limited. For instance, none of those platforms use a single port X557-AT, so we currently do not have a usable NVM image (i.e. firmware) for that SKU. Without an NVM, the PHY cannot be configured into the various modes (KR or XFI for 10GBase-T, KX or SGMII for 1GBase-T). Also, PHY control via MDIO requires the MAC firmware access to do so, and since the Stratix10MX is not a qualified platform that we are unaware of this platform, also MAC will not have this capability.

We have limitation to proper FW for both the PHY and the platform MAC, but you are developing a design that should be tested and validate on your own.

Best regards,

@Mæcenas_INTEL​.