The USB 3.0 Standard
USB 3.0 — also known as SuperSpeed USB — provides a standard interface for almost everything that connects to a PC or audio/video equipment. From keyboards to high-throughput disk drives, devices can use this low-cost interface for plug-and-play connections that work so smoothly, users rarely have to give it much thought. While maintaining full backward compatibility with USB 2.0, the new 3.0 standard offers several enhancements:
- Dramatically increase of bandwidth — up to 5 Gbps full duplex (compared to 480 Mbps simplex for USB 2.0)
- Better power management
- Ability of the host to deliver more power to devices, enabling applications such as USB-rechargeable batteries, LED lighting, and mini fans
- Ability of the host to identify devices faster
- New protocols that make data handling more efficient
Driven by the increasing storage capability of consumer electronic devices, along with the wider availability of media via broadband Internet connections, users will want faster data transfer to simplify downloading, storing and sharing large amounts of multi-media content. USB 3.0 can transfer large files such as HD movies at speeds limited only by the transfer rate of the storage device. For example, a flash drive using USB 3.0 can move 1Gbyte of data to a host device in 3.3 seconds, compared to 33 seconds with USB 2.0.
USB 3.0 delivers this new level of performance without changing the USB connector form factor of the PC and with full backward compatibility in all other respects. So in addition to meeting storage requirements, USB 3.0 provides the ideal solution for a wide range of connectivity applications.
More information about USB 3.0 including the specification can be found on the USB Implementers Forum’s web page.
Fujitsu’s USB3.0 External Storage Solution
The need to transfer ever-greater amounts of information between PCs, external hard drives, portable electronics devices, and flash-based SSD drives continues to drive the need for faster transfer methods. Fujitsu’s MB86C30A USB 3.0-SATA bridge device offers an easy way for developers to adapt SATA drives for USB 3.0, enabling customers to complete data transfers in seconds that formerly would have taken many minutes.
The MB86C30A is the world’s first USB 3.0 slave chip based on Fujitsu’s high-speed serial-I/O technology. Fabricated in 65nm CMOS technology, the chip offers low power consumption and great flexibility in adopting higher-speed USB specifications in the near future. The following picture shows an external hard disk drive that can be used with a PC or in consumer electronics applications – the typical USB3.0 external storage solution realized with the MB86C30A:
MB86C30A Key Features
High-speed encryption engine
For security, the MB86C30A’s embedded command parser supports the ATA command set with a highspeed encryption engine and DMA controller. The chip supports 128- or 256-bit key length for CBC-AEC and 256-bit key length for XTS-AES. Because encryption is handled in hardware rather than software, the MB86C30A maximizes the USB 3.0 potential transfer rate, is illustrated in the following figure:
Power management
The MB86C30A supports the many new power management features introduced in USB 3.0. For example, USB 3.0 endpoints inform the host when they are ready to send data, thus saving the power that would be wasted in polling endpoints. Other protocol changes save power in similar ways, and the USB 3.0 link layer automatically goes into low-power states based on bus activity.
PHY and link integration for USB 2.0/USB 3.0 and SATA
The MB86C30A integrates a physical layer interface (PHY) with termination resistances on both of the duplex lines. The implementation thus requires a minimal number of external components and enables easy connection to the physical medium.
Embedded spread-spectrum clock generator (SSCG)
Because electromagnetic interference (EMI) becomes more problematic at higher frequencies, USB 3.0 requires use of a spread-spectrum clock, which must be generated independently in the host and each endpoint. The Fujitsu bridge chip operates at 75 MHz and integrates an SSCG. This integration simplifies the system design, and reduces the need for other noise abatement components.
High-performance CPU
The MB86C30A integrates a high-performance, 32-bit ARM7 processor, operating at 75 MHz with a dedicated program memory of 64 Kbytes. With custom firmware, developers can thus create highly differentiated external SATA drives. General-purpose I/Os (GPIOs) further extend the device’s versatility.
Customized function (VID/PID)
Every USB product has a unique Vendor ID (VID) and Product ID (PID). The MB86C30A allows customers to customize the chip’s Vendor ID, Product ID and Strings.
