Modern portable computers and smart mobile devices in today’s smart world, emphasize portability, lightness, thinness, and power efficiency. ASIX AX88179A USB 3.2 Gen1 to Gigabit Ethernet Controller provides the best wired networking solution to obtain a stable high-speed wired network connection through USB interface.
Figure-1. USB Ethernet vs Wi-Fi Network Throughput Comparison on Nintendo Switch
Since Apple introduced the world’s thinnest notebook, MacBook Air in 2008, most of portable computers and smart mobile devices, such as laptops/tablets/smartphones, emphasize portability, lightness, thinness, and power efficiency. Following the innovation of computer expansion slot technology, USB (Universal Serial Bus) technology supports many convenient functions such as low pin count, hot-swapping, plug-and-play, high-current fast charging, etc., and has been widely used in various computer peripherals, laptops, tablets, smartphones, handheld devices, smart mobile devices, etc. The USB technology has become one of the most important computer peripheral expansion bus technologies in today’s smart world.
Figure-2. AX88179A USB 3.2 Gen1 to Gigabit Ethernet Application Diagram
ASIX AX88179A is a USB 3.2 Gen1 to Gigabit Ethernet Controller with integrated 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet PHY. AX88179A supports Windows 11/10/8.x, Linux/Android/Chrome OS, Nintendo Switch built-in drivers, and macOS/Linux native CDC-NCM driver for driverless and plug & play.
Figure-3. AX88179A Hardware Design Block Diagram
Figure-4. AX88179A Reference Schematic
Figure-5. AX88179A PCB Layout Reference Design
ASIX provides complete AX88179A hardware design materials for customer reference, such as reference schematics, PCB/Gerber layout files and application design notes. Designers can easily implement AX88179A on any target application, which requires support for Gigabit Ethernet wired network connectivity through USB 3.2 interface, and the time schedule of AX88179A hardware design can be greatly shortened.
Figure-6. ASIX USB Ethernet Controllers Built-in Drivers with Driverless and Plug & Play
ASIX supports complete software supporting for ASIX USB Ethernet controllers, including Apple macOS, Windows 11/10/8.x, Linux/Android/Chrome OS, UEFI X64/ARM and other drivers, as well as mass production test tool, etc. Once finishing ASIX USB Ethernet hardware design, designers can install ASIX USB Ethernet drivers directly to verify the network functionality of your own USB Ethernet products without additional software development effort.
Figure-7. ASIX USB Ethernet Adapters for Nintendo Switch
Some game consoles, such as the Nintendo Switch, only support Wi-Fi wireless networks. In order to provide users with a more stable and high-speed online service experience, Nintendo had implemented ASIX USB Ethernet build-in driver on the Switch operating system. Users only need to plug an AX88179A USB Ethernet adapter onto Switch game console or docking station, and then can access Nintendo online services with a stable high-speed wired network connection directly.
Figure-8. AX88179A Windows Mass Production Test Tool Environment
Figure-9. AX88179A Windows Mass Production Test Tool – eFuse/Flash Programming
Figure-10. AX88179A Windows Mass Production Test Tool – Networking Test
Every network device requires a unique MAC address. Therefore, it is necessary to program a unique MAC address onto AX88179A embedded eFuse or external Flash memory, and then perform basic network tests in factory. ASIX provides AX88179A Windows Mass Production Test Tool, which supports online AX88179A eFuse/Flash programming and basic network function testing, to improve the mass production efficiency in factory.
Figure-11. iPerf3 Network Throughput Test Tool
Figure-12. AX88179A iPerf3 Network Throughput Test Results
Users can run a free iPerf3 network throughput test tool (https://iperf.fr/) to measure the network throughput values of AX88179A on various Apple macOS, Windows, Linux/Android/Chrome platforms. In addition to the convenient driverless and plug & play software support; AX88179A also supports excellent network performance with low CPU utilization. According to the iPerf3 network throughput test results, operating at USB 3.2 Gen1 and 1000M full-duplex mode, the Tx and Rx network throughput of AX88179A can reach 940Mbps, and the CPU utilization rate is as low as 4%. Below are examples of iPerf3 network throughput test commands for server and client sites.
In response to the global trend of energy efficient products, AX88179A supports advanced power management functions, such as NDIS communication protocol offload (ARP & NS), ECMA-393 ProxZzzy for sleeping hosts, Microsoft Modern Standby, it can greatly reduce the power consumption in sleep mode. The power consumption of AX88179A is about 0.65 watts, operating at USB 3.2 and 1000M Full-duplex mode; it is greatly reduced to about 0.09 watts while enabling Low-power Wake On LAN (WOL) and entering the sleep mode, and is close to 0 watts while disabling WOL and entering the sleep mode.
All modern portable computers and smart mobile devices in today’s smart world, emphasize portability, lightness, thinness, and power efficiency. ASIX AX88179A provides an easy-to-design, easy-to-use, cost-efficient USB 3.2 Gen1 to Gigabit Ethernet controller solution for stable high-speed wired network connection through USB interface. AX88179A supports Windows 11/10/8.x, Linux/Android/Chrome OS, Nintendo Switch built-in drivers, and Apple macOS/Linux native CDC-NCM driver for convenient driverless and plug & play software support. It also supports advanced power management and precision time protocol functions to meet the market demands of energy efficient and precise time synchronization applications. Through the widely used USB communication interface, which supports many convenient functions, such as hot-swapping, plug-and-play, high-current fast charging, the SuperSpeed USB Ethernet solution becomes the best solution to obtain a stable high-speed wired network connection through USB interface in the smart world.