The AD8158 is an asynchronous, protocol-agnostic, quad-lane 2:1 switch with a total of 12 differential CML inputs and 12 differential CML outputs. The signal path supports NRZ signaling with data rates up to 6.5 Gbps per lane. Each lane offers programmable receive equalization, programmable output pre-emphasis, programmable output levels, and loss-of-signal detection.

The nonblocking switch-core of the AD8158 implements a 2:1 multiplexer and 1:2 demultiplexer per lane and supports independent lane switching through the four select pins, SEL[3:0]. Each port is a four-lane link. Every lane implements an asynchronous path supporting dc to 6.5 Gbps NRZ data, fully independent of other lanes. The AD8158 has low latency and very low lane-to-lane skew.

The main application of the AD8158 is to support redundancy on both the backplane and the line interface sides of a serial link. The demultiplexing path implements unicast and bicast capability, allowing the part to support either 1 + 1 or 1:1 redundancy.

The AD8158 is also suited for testing high speed serial links because of its ability to duplicate incoming data. In a port-monitoring application, the AD8158 can maintain link-connectivity with a pass-through connection from Port C to Port A while sending a duplicate copy of the data to test equipment on Port B.

The rich feature set of the AD8158 can be controlled either through external toggle pins or by setting on-chip control registers through the I2C interface.