USB (Universal Serial Bus) Types & Specification Details !!

 

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard initially developed in the mid-1990s that define the cables, connectors and communications protocols used in a bus for connection, communication, and power supply between computers and electronic devices. It is currently developed by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF).

 

USB is designed to standardize the connection of computer peripherals (including keyboards, pointing devices, digital cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters) to personal computers, both to communicate and to supply electric power. It has become commonplace on other devices, such as smart phones, PDAs and video game consoles. USB has effectively replaced a variety of earlier interfaces, such as parallel ports, as well as separate power chargers for portable devices.

 •USB 2.0

 

The USB 2.0 was launched in April 2000, In addition to the 12Mbits/s - the fastest speed of USB.1. It is increased to 480Mbit/s high speed or high bandwidth. However, only 280Mbit/s or 35MB/s can be produced due to the bus access constraints.

 •USB 3.0

The USB 3.0 was released on November 12, 2008. It defines a new Super Speed transfer mode, which relates to new backwards-compatible plugs, receptacles, and cables. The USB 3.0 provides a data signaling rate of 5.0Gbit/s. But it is reasonable to get only around 3.2Gbit/s (0.4GB/s or 400MB/s) due to the overhead incurred by 8b/10b encoding and the 4Gbit/s payload throughput.

•USB 3.1

USB 3.1 is a new standard defined by USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum).

- USB 3.1 Gen1 (SuperSpeed): merely a renaming of USB 3.0 (theoretical bandwidth of up to 5Gbit/s)

- USB 3.1 Gen2 (SuperSpeedPlus): an impact on the transfer speeds (doubUSB (Universal Serial Bus)le the theoretical bandwidth of up to 10Gbit/s)

What is USB Type-C?

(1) USB Type-C is a new connector type introduced by USB-IF in the USB Type-C Specification 1.0.

(2) The Type-C connector is a reversible plug-and-play connector for USB devices.

(3) USB Type-C can be applied to the host device, the USB device and cables.

 

 

 

 

How do I know my host device has a USB 3.1 port?

- Please refer to the below connector table to check the USB port of your platform.

 For further confirmation, please check the specifications of your host device or seek for the technical support from your host device manufacturer.

 

Can I upgrade to USB 3.1 e.g. by using adapters?

- Yes, you can upgrade your device to USB3.1 Gen1 / Gen2 by an supported add-on card.

Difference Between  USB 2 Vs 3 Vs3.1

Speed: USB2.0 offers a maximum transfer speed of 480 Mbps. And USB 3.0 supports up to 5 Gbps (~4.8Gbps). Latest specification, USB 3.1, supports up to 10Gbps.

 Data transfer: USB 2.0 allow Half duplex transfer method, that is device can either receive or transfer (simultaneous transfer and reception not supported). USB 3.0 supports Full duplex operation (simultaneous transfer and reception).

 Data flow : USB 2.0 have unidirectional data flow through the channel and USB 3.0 supports bi-directional.

 Number of wires in cable: USB 2.0 have 4 lines (two data lines D+, D-, power and ground). But USB 3,.0 have 9 lines (D+, D-, VCC-power, GND, SSRX+, SSRX-, SSTX+, SSTX-). SS lines are intended for super speed transmission.

 Maximum cable length: USB 2.0 support up to 5m cable and USB 3.0 uses 3m cable.

 Connector color/indication: USB 2 connector uses black or grey and USB 3 uses blue color connectors.

 Power capability: USB 3.0 supports higher current and power compared to USB 2.0. And also supports latest power delivery specifications.