SpaceWire-to-GigabitEther is an interface to SpaceWire networks for PC software via GigabitEthernet. Users can send/receive SpaceWire packets from/to a user program running on an ordinary PC to/from a SpaceWire node or router connected to the device. The class library written in C++ is also available for user programs which run on the PC. Using the library, users can perform Remote Memory Access Protocol (RMAP) to RMAP Target nodes connected to the converter through the SpaceWire network. This device is not flight qualified, but originally intended for SpaceWire/RMAP-based data acquisition system of scientific experiments and ground tests of flight modules which use SpaceWire interfaces.
Note that there are two types of SpaceWire-to-GigabitEther, one is an open-source version (FPGA IP and software are open), and the other is a product version which can be purchased from Shimafuji Electric.
The both SpaceWire-to-GigabitEther operates as a TCP server which listens/accepts a connection from a client PC on which user program runs. When disconnected, the converter goes back to the listening state and waits for a new connection. The Shimafuji SpaceWire-to-GigabitEther accepts two TCP/IP connections (identified by TCP/IP port numbers) and bridges them to separate SpaceWire ports (both connected to the internal SpaceWire router; see User Guide for details), while one TCP/IP-SpaceWire bridge is available in the open-source SpaceWire-to-GigabitEther.