Management Data Input/Output

Management Data Input/Output, or MDIO, is a standard-driven, dedicated-bus approach that's specified in IEEE RFC802.3. The MDIO interface is implemented by two pins, an MDIO pin and a Management Data Clock (MDC) pin.

The MDIO interface is defined in relationship to the accessing and modification of various registers within physical-layer (PHY) devices, and how they relate to connecting to media access controllers (MACs) in 1- and 10-Gbit/s Ethernet solutions.

One MDIO interface can access up to 32 registers, in 32 different devices. A device driving an MDIO bus is called a station management entity (STA), and the device being managed by the STA is called the MDIO Manageable Device (MMD). The STA drives the MDC line. It initiates a command using an MDIO frame and provides the target register address. During a write command, the STA also provides the data. In the case of a read command, the MMD takes over the bus and supplies the STA with the data.