Zilog With USB Mini-Z 28-PIN Design Board

Zilog, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of IXYS Corporation, in microcontrollers (MCUs) providing solutions for the industrial, telecommunication, automotive and consumer markets, introduces a new reference design, the Mini-Z USB Design Board.

It incorporates a USB host and peripheral functionality with Zilog’s portfolio of Mini-Z modules. This hardware design uses a Max3421E USB transceiver to provide an interface to USB communications with supporting power-limiting and connection circuitry. The design also incorporates a Secure Digital (SD) card using its SPI interface. The firmware includes host functionality for USB mass storage devices and SD card support.

The Mini-Z USB Design Board includes the hardware necessary to develop prototypes and projects incorporating the host and peripheral functions on Zilog’s wide selection of MCUs. It is designed to be operated by either a 9V battery or an external power supply.

Mini-Z USB Design Board Features:

• Low/full speed USB host capability
• SD card
• Full-speed USB peripheral capability
• USB serial communications

The board can be used to develop a number of applications.

The following list offers ideas:

• SD-to-USB converter
• Adding removable storage to Zilog MCU projects
• Adding USB Human Interface Device (HID) input for Zilog MCU projects

The Mini-Z USB Design Board also ships with a USB host shell application that provides the ability to access USB mass storage devices (using FAT16/FAT32 file systems) and SD/MMC cards from the shell. Every module in Mini-Z product mix is preloaded with a boot loader and this control shell. Additionally, this shell facilitates access to any Mini-Z module and to the Mini-Z USB Board, which the module attaches to.

"Zilog’s Mini-Z’s provide complete module and board systems for bringing fast time-to-market solutions. Their flexible design allows them to work together with other stamp modules and carrier boards so they can be used independently in creative application designs," commented Steve Darrough, Zilog’s VP marketing.

The Mini-Z USB Design Board is available in the Reference Design category of the Zilog Store.