Cypress Showing SuperSpeed Explorer Kit to Accelerate USB 3.0 Designs

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. introduced a development platform that enables designers to add USB 3.0 throughput to virtually any system.

The new SuperSpeed Explorer Kit, available for $49 online, is based on Cypress’s programmable EZ-USB FX3 USB 3.0 peripheral controller, which offers the flexibility to address a range of applications.

Cypress demonstrated the kit at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, CA from September 9-11, and 100 attendees received free kits.

EZ-USB FX3 is a programmable USB 3.0 peripheral controller. It is equipped with a configurable General Programmable Interface (GPIF II), which can be programmed in 8-, 16-, and 32-bit configurations. GPIF II allows FX3 to communicate directly with application processors, FPGAs, storage media, and image sensors and provides a data transfer rate of up to 400MB/s, while using lower power than alternative solutions.

The SuperSpeed Explorer Kit interfaces with external devices via three accessory boards that connect to Aptina image sensors, Altera FPGAs and Xilinx FPGAs, respectively. The kit also includes an integrated debugger with a standard USB interface to further simplify designs and speed time to market.

Cypress also gave away advance copies of the book SuperSpeed Device Design by Example by USB expert John Hyde at IDF. The book provides a practical approach to designing and implementing SuperSpeed USB peripherals and includes a series of examples using the SuperSpeed Explorer Kit.

“With the unique programmability of Cypress’s FX3 solution, our new $49 SuperSpeed Explorer kit makes it easier and more cost-efficient than ever before for designers to add USB 3.0 to their next-generation products,” said Mark Fu, senior marketing director of the USB 3.0 business unit, Cypress. “We look forward to showcasing the kit at IDF, along with our leading USB 3.0 portfolio.”

“I have been working with many of Cypress’s FX3 customers and wrote my book to address their most common concern of ‘getting started,” said Hyde, who’s also a principal at USB Design By Example. “The book covers the end-to-end development process including Windows examples, FX3 firmware examples, GPIF II examples, and even Verilog examples for a CPLD plug-on board that enables you to try a variety of high-performance interfaces to your own hardware. I wanted to make SuperSpeed USB technology more accessible and believe that the book, along with the new Cypress kit, is a good first step in that direction“

In addition to FX3, Cypress will feature other solutions from its USB 3.0 portfolio at IDF, including: The USB-IF Certified, 4-port EZ-USB HX3 USB 3.0 hub controller, which offers robust interoperability, support for Battery Charging v1.2 and Apple charging standards, and configurability. HX3 targets docking stations, monitors, ultrabook devices, digital TVs, set-top boxes, printers and servers.

The EZ-USB CX3 camera controller, which enables developers to add USB 3.0 to image sensors supporting the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Camera Serial Interface Type 2 (CSI-2) standard. CX3 provides four CSI-2 data lanes with speed up to 1 Gbps per lane, and it supports uncompressed video streams.

The EZ-USB FX3S RAID-on-Chip controller, which integrates storage host controllers that enable developers to add support for SD/eMMC memories and SDIO devices to their system.

About EZ-USB FX3
EZ-USB FX3 provides USB 3.0 connectivity to virtually any system. The on-chip ARM9 CPU core with 512KB RAM delivers 200 MIPS of computational power and is available for applications that require local data processing. Additionally, FX3 provides SPI, UART, I2C and I2S interfaces to connect to serial peripherals. In short, FX3 provides flexible and integrated features that enable developers to add USB 3.0 connectivity to any system.

EZ-USB FX3 is in volume production and is available in two packages: a 121-ball BGA (10 million x 10mm) and a space saving 131-ball Wafer-Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP) with dimensions of 4.7 million x 5.1mm.