Apparatus and method for high-speed ethernet over star quad media

1. An Ethernet link, comprising:

a first Ethernet transceiver;

a second Ethernet transceiver configured as a link partner to the first Ethernet transceiver;

a shielded twisted quad (STQ) cable interposed between the first Ethernet transceiver and the second Ethernet transceiver, the STQ cable including four conductors, each conductor having a first end interfaced with a corresponding input/output (I/O) circuit of the first Ethernet transceiver in a single-ended configuration, and a second end interfaced with a corresponding input/output (I/O) circuit of the second Ethernet transceiver in a single-ended configuration; and

wherein each of the first and second Ethernet transceivers includes

a signaling interface for coupling to the STQ cable, and

mode control circuitry, wherein the mode control circuitry is responsive to a first mode control signal to communicate with the STQ cable in the single-ended configuration.

2. The Ethernet link of claim 1 , wherein:

an aggregate data rate of all four conductors is between 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps.

3. The Ethernet link of claim 2 , wherein:

data transferred via each conductor is in accordance with a 10GBASE-T Ethernet protocol.

4. The Ethernet link of claim 1 , wherein:

the mode control circuitry is responsive to a second mode control signal to communicate via a differential configuration.

5. The Ethernet link of claim 1 , further comprising:

digital signal processing circuitry tuned to process signals transferred via the STQ cable media.

6. An Ethernet network, comprising:

a network hub including multiple Ethernet ports;

multiple network devices comprising at least one from the group including a sensor, video camera or telematics data monitoring device, the multiple network devices to generate data for use in an autonomous driving system;

shielded twisted quad (STQ) cables disposed in a point-to-point fashion between each of the multiple Ethernet ports and each of the multiple network devices; and

wherein each of the multiple Ethernet ports communicates with each of the multiple network devices via a 10GBASE-T Ethernet protocol; and

wherein the network hub, the multiple network devices, and the shielded twisted quad (STQ) cables are disposed within the body of a motor vehicle.

7. The Ethernet network of claim 6 , wherein:

each of the Ethernet ports includes a first Ethernet transceiver;

each of the network devices includes a second Ethernet transceiver configured as a link partner for a given one of the first Ethernet transceivers; and

wherein each STQ cable is interposed between the first Ethernet transceiver and the second Ethernet transceiver, the STQ cable including four conductors, each conductor having a first end interfaced with a corresponding input/output (I/O) circuit of the first Ethernet transceiver in a single-ended configuration, and a second end interfaced with a corresponding input/output (I/O) circuit of the second Ethernet transceiver in a single-ended configuration.

8. The Ethernet network of claim 7 , wherein:

the first Ethernet transceiver includes digital signal processing circuitry tuned to process signals transferred via the STQ cable media.

9. An NBASE-T Ethernet transceiver, comprising:

digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry; and

multiple transmit/receive input/output (I/O) circuits for transceiving data in accordance with an NBASE-T Ethernet protocol;

wherein for a first mode of operation, the multiple transmit/receive I/O circuits are configured for single-ended coupling to multiple shielded twisted quad (STQ) conductors; and

wherein for a second mode of operation, the multiple transmit/receive I/O circuits are configurable for differential coupling to multiple, twisted pair conductors.

10. The NBASE-T Ethernet transceiver of claim 9 , realized as a 10GBASE-T Ethernet transceiver IC chip.

11. The NBASE-T Ethernet transceiver of claim 9 , wherein:

for the first mode of operation, the DSP circuitry is tuned to process signals transferred via STQ cable media.

12. The NBASE-T Ethernet transceiver of claim 9 , wherein the multiple transmit/receive I/O circuits each transmit and receive differential signaling levels, and wherein the NBASE-T transceiver further includes:

balun circuitry to convert the differential signaling levels to a single-ended signaling level.