Product category: Communications ICs (Wired)
News Release from: Oxford Semiconductor | Subject: OXU921S
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 16 February 2005
Chip bridges the gap from USB to serial
ATA
Supporting the rapid transition to serial ATA storage, the OXU921S is the world's first bridge chip to provide transparent data transfer between a USB2.0 port and an external SATA disk drive.
Supporting the rapid transition to serial ATA storage, the OXU921S from Oxford Semiconductor is the world's first bridge chip to provide transparent data transfer between a USB2.0 port and an external SATA disk drive A highly integrated device, the bridge chip dramatically simplifies implementation of external hard disk and optical disk drives for both PC and Mac platforms
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 13 Dec 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Integrated solution for high-speed data streaming
Combining an 800Mbit/s 1394B link layer and PHY controller with a 480Mbit/s USB2.0 PHY, the OXUF922 programmable bridge chip provides a fully integrated solution for high-speed data streaming.
In its 128-pin QFP package, the OXU921S features an integral SATA PHY, USB2.0 PHY and ARM7TDMI processor.
The USB mass storage device firmware provided with the chip ensures its full compatibility with standard operating system drivers.
The bridge chip's embedded USB2.0 Link and PHY support full and high-speed modes and offer backwards compatibility with USB1.1.
The OXU921S has a 6Kbyte cache for USB data, facilitating a data transmission speed up to 480Mbit/s.
The integrated SATA core and PHY operate at 1.5GHz, resulting in a disk interface datarate of 150Mbyte/s.
The use of a high-performance ARM7 processor, with 8Kbyte close coupled RAM, means users are free to create highly differentiated external SATA drive enclosures through custom firmware development.
12 GPIOs further extend the device's capability.
An embedded UART is provided for use in code development and debug and firmware can be programmed through the USB port to help simplify manufacturing and in-field updates.
To optimise the firmware development process, the OXU921S shares a common software base with other Oxford Semiconductor devices and is backed by a full development kit and evaluation board.
The OXU921S is available for less than US $5.5 in 100,000-unit quantities.
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