Spread spectrum modulation over an asymmetric ethernet link

A method for data communication, comprising:

• in an automotive Ethernet physical-layer (PHY) transceiver coupled via a full-duplex Ethernet link to a peer transceiver,
• receiving from the peer transceiver, over the full-duplex Ethernet link, an analog Ethernet signal conveying data symbols, at a reception data rate that is lower than a transmission data rate used in transmitting data from the PHY transceiver to the peer transceiver, the Ethernet signal being modulated by a spreading sequence having a Spreading Factor comprising a ratio between a spreading chip-rate and the reception data rate, and converting the received analog Ethernet signal into a digital signal;
• and
• de-spreading the digital signal using the spreading sequence to recover the data symbols.

An automotive Ethernet physical-layer (PHY) transceiver, comprising:

• a digital processor, configured to:
• receive a sequence of data symbols for transmission to a peer transceiver at a transmission data rate larger than a reception data rate used in receiving data from the peer transceiver;
• generate a digital Ethernet signal by modulating the data symbols, wherein the modulation includes using a spreading sequence having a Spreading Factor comprising a ratio between a spreading chip-rate and the transmission data rate;
• and
• convert the digital Ethernet signal to an analog Ethernet signal;
• and
• an Analog Front End (AFE) coupled via a full-duplex Ethernet link to the peer transceiver, the AFE configured to transmit the analog Ethernet signal to the peer transceiver over the full-duplex Ethernet link.

A method for data communication, comprising:

• in an automotive Ethernet physical-layer (PHY) transceiver that is coupled via a full-duplex Ethernet link to the peer transceiver, receiving a sequence of data symbols for transmission to the peer transceiver at a transmission data rate larger than a reception data rate used in receiving data from the peer transceiver;
• generating a digital Ethernet signal by modulating the data symbols, wherein the modulation includes using a spreading sequence having a Spreading Factor comprising a ratio between a spreading chip-rate and the transmission data rate;
• converting the digital Ethernet signal to an analog Ethernet signal;
• and
• transmitting the analog Ethernet signal to the peer transceiver over the full-duplex Ethernet link.