USB Processor Offloads Host In Embedded Apps

Called a USB On-The-Go (OTG) solution, the AT43USB380 can offload transactions from the system processor in embedded applications, resulting in minimal USB overhead (interrupts and data transfer) to the system processor. The device contains a USB 2.0 complaint OTG processor and a comprehensive software suite including standard USB class drivers that permit rapid application development. The device is designed as a memory-mapped OTG co-processor. It can operate in three modes: OTG, stand alone host, or stand alone function. Its 32/16/8-bit system bus interface allows it to interface with a variety of popular processors, such as the 32-bit ARM and the 8-bit AVR. The DMA engine, along with dual RX and TX FIFO buffering, ensures maximum data throughput for all four USB transfer types (control, isochronous, bulk and interrupt). An on-chip firmware stack comprised of the USB host, function, hub and OTG modules gives it the intelligence to manage USB transactions autonomously. A complete development kit (AT43DK380) is available for evaluation and application development. The device comes in a 100-pin TQFP. Pricing starts at $4.89 each/10,000. ATMEL CORP., San Jose, CA. (408) 441-0311