27.05.2009

FTDI’s Vinculum VNC1L USB Host Controller Makes USB Designs Easy

FTDI, available through GLYN High-Tech Distribution, has made it easier to provide USB capability on existing or new embedded designs with its Vinculum VNC1L USB Host Controller IC and its Vinculum-based modules. The initial product member of the family is the VNC1L device with two USB Ports which can be individually configured by firmware as Host or Slave ports.

There are various ways to use the Vinculum USB host controller chip.  You can connect USB Flash drives to MCUs via the Vinculum's UART, SPI or parallel FIFO interfaces. You can also connect USB device classes including Mass Storage Class, Printer Class and HID Class devices, or even FTDI's own range of USB-UART and USB-FIFO ICs to an embedded system.

VNC1L Features:

●  8/32 bit V-MCU Core
●  Dual DMA controllers for hardware acceleration
●  64k Embedded Flash Program  Memory
●  4k internal Data SRAM
●  2 x USB 2.0 Slow/Full speed Host/Slave Ports
●  UART, SPI and Parallel FIFO interfaces
●  PS2 legacy Keyboard and Mouse Interfaces
●  Up to 28 GPIO pins depending on configuration
●  3.3V operation with 5V safe inputs
●  Low power operation (25mA running/2mA standby)
●  FTDI firmware easily updated in the field
●  LQFP-48 RoHS compliant package
●  Multi-processor configuration capable

FTDI's CEO., Fred Dart said - "Vinculum brings cost effective USB Host capability to products that previously did not have the hardware resources available.  We anticipate that these devices will be especially popular for adding USB Flash Drive connectivity to a wide range of consumer and industrial products.  As Vinculum comes complete with FTDI's in-house developed firmware, there are no USB software stacks to license, indeed, no knowledge of USB is required to use these devices."

FTDI has also developed various Vinculum-based modules for easier prototyping and evaluation.
●  V-Eval (Vinculum development board based on the VNC1L)
●  VDIP (DIP format VNC1L USB host controller development module)
●  VF2F (Digital media backup to USB Flash drive - reference design)
●  VDRIVE (Module easily adds USB Flash drive interface to MCU I/F via UART or SPI interface)
●  VMUSIC (Module easily adds USB Flash drive Interface plus MP3 playback to MCU I/F via UART or SPI interface)
●  DLP-VLOG (Module to allow data logging directly to a USB Flash drive using a VNC1L device with a microcontroller)

For more details about FTDI Vinculum products, please send us an email at sales@glyn.com.au