Line card interface controller IC is easy to program

Designed for Central Office subscriber line cards, the SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics STLC5460 Line Card Interface Controller integrated circuit can be programmed easily to operate at different data rates, to operate at different bandwidths and to communicate with General Circuit Interface (GCI) devices.

The STLC5460 functions as a non-blocking switch for 128 channels of 16, 32 or 64Kbit/s bandwidth. Two consecutive 64Kbit/s channels can also be handled as a quasi single 128Kbit/s channel. Thanks to its ability to switch channels of different bandwidths the device can handle up to 16 digital ISDN subscribers or 16 analog subscribers. Moreover, since the interfaces can operate at different data rates the STLC5460 is ideal for adapting data rates between pulse code modulation (PCM) at 8Mbit/s and GCI at 2Mbit/s.

Included on the chip are four bi-directional PCM serial interfaces and two GCI serial interfaces. Each PCM interface consists of up to four duplex ports with a tri-state indication signal and can be programmed to operate at data rates from 2Mbit/s to 8Mbit/s. The GCI interfaces can be selected to function as 2Mbit/s PCM interfaces.

Through the GCI interfaces the STLC5460 communicates with other GCI compatible devices such as the STLC3040 subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC), STLC5411 U interface and STLC5421 S interface. The device manages the layer 1 protocol buffering the command/indicate and monitor channels for GCI compatible devices.

Programming is performed by loading commands through a standard microprocessor interface with multiplexed address/data or separate address and data buses. This interface is compatible with the SGS-THOMSON ST9 microprocessor family and with microprocessors produced by Intel and Motorola.

The STLC5460 is supplied in a PLCC44 package (type STLC5460FN). A DIP40 version (STLC5040N) having a multiplexed microprocessor interface is also available.

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