3. A Tour of RAD-Comet Hardware

3.1. Label and Status Indicators

_images/Comet-Top-Label.png

3.1.1. PHY Mode

The mode each PHY is displayed by the status LED within the corresponding membrane button.

PHY Mode

Link Speed

AE1

T1Mode

Cyan = Auto (Link Down)

  • Slow Flash: Link Down

  • Fast Flash: 100 Mbps

Green = Master

Blue = Slave

AE2

T1SMode

CSMA/CD Mode

Cyan

Always 10Mbps

PLCA Coordinator

Green

PLCA Follower Node

Blue

Changing between coordinator and follower node

The RAD-Comet can be toggled between coordinator and follower by holding “T1S MODE” for 3 seconds. The node ID of the follower is configured using neoVI Explorer.

3.1.3. Signal Quality Index (SQI)

SQI is a 3-bit value reported by the PHY that correlates with the BER (Bit Error Ratio) of the link communication. The behavior of the SQI LED is shown below.

Red

SQI = 0

BER > 10e-10

SQI = 1

SQI = 2

Yellow

SQI = 3

BER < 10e-10

SQI = 4

Green

SQI = 5

SQI = 6

SQI = 7

3.1.4. gPTP

This LED displays the gPTP configuration of AE1

Off

Disabled

Solid Blue

Leader

Blinking Blue

Follower

3.1.5. PLCA Status

The PLCA status is reported by the 10BASE-T1S PHY and displayed below the T1S Mode button according to the following table.

Green

Beacon Present

Red

Collision

Yellow

Jabber Detected

Magenta

Unexpected Beacon

Blue

Empty Cycle

Cyan

RX in Transmit Opp

Note:

The settings described in this section can also be modified using neoVI Explorer or Intrepid’s open source cross-platform device communication API. (explained later in this guide)

3.2. Bootloader Mode

You may see all the LEDs on the top label flashing synchronously. This means the device is in bootloader mode, which should only happen when flashing the device’s firmware. If this is observed unexpectedly or following a firmware update, please contact customer support for assistance.

3.3. Connector Interfaces

3.3.1. Power/USB/1000BASE-T Interfaces

_images/Power-USB-ETH.png

Barrel Jack (Left):

The device can be powered using a DC supply between 5.5-40V volts with a minimum power of 10 Watts. Using a power supply that does not meet these requirements may cause the device to malfunction or be permanently damaged.

USB Type C (Center):

This serves as a connection to a host computer for configuration, firmware updates, and PHY register access. The RAD-Comet can also be powered through this connection, provided the host port meets USB 3 power.

ETH 01 (Right)

The industry standard RJ-45 Ethernet jack is a 10/100/1000BASE-T port that can be used to connect to a host computer or be used as a network port for sending and receiving Ethernet traffic.

  • Link LED (Green): Indicates that a valid link has been established between your device and another 10/100/1000 Ethernet device.

  • Activity LED (Orange): Flashes when traffic passes in either direction over the attached Ethernet cable.

In normal operation you should see the Link LED always on, and the Activity LED flashing at a variable rate, with faster flashing meaning that more data is being transferred.

3.3.2. Ethernet Interfaces

_images/Comet_Endplate_AE-DB9.png

Mini-50 Connectors

The Automotive Ethernet ports use a Molex Mini-50 connection system.

_images/mini50pinout.png

Molex Mini-50 Pin Assignments

AE01

The mini-50 connector on the left is a 100BASE-T1 port with the following pin assignments. Looking into the connector, the leftmost pin is Pin #1 with pin indexing increasing from left to right.

AE01 mini-50 Connector Pinout

Pin #

Label

Description

1

No Connect

2

TRD+

Data transmit and receive, positive

3

TRD-

Data transmit and receive, negative

4

No Connect

AE02

The mini-50 connector on the right is a 10BASE-T1S port with the following pin assignments. Looking into the connector, the leftmost pin is Pin #1 with pin indexing increasing from left to right.

AE 02 mini-50 Connector Pinout

Pin #

Label

Description

1

No Connect

2

TRX_P

Data transmit and receive, positive

3

TRX_N

Data transmit and receive, negative

4

No Connect

3.3.3. DB-9 Connector

The DB-9 connector on the right holds two CAN FD channels and can also be used to power the RAD-Comet. Pin assignments are listed in the table below. See this section for detail on power supply requirements.

Pin

Signal

1

NC

2

CAN 1 L

3

Isolated GND

4

CAN 2 L

5

GND

6

Isolated GND

7

CAN 1 H

8

CAN 2 H

9

VBATT