Carmichael, CA — (press release excerpt) — addressing the need in Embedded Linux systems for a high speed and low power digital interface, Trans Digital Corporation has announced availability of its Transfer Engine IP Core. The core can easily be integrated into SoCs based on popular ARM, MIPS, and other 8/16/32-bit RISC processors. The 12,000 gate Transfer Engine core contains the Trans Processor point-to-point transfer engine which not only manages high speed transfers, but also operates in a manner that is compatible with standard parallel printer ports to drive parallel peripherals. Typical applications include: mobile battery operated digital devices, digital still cameras, video cameras, fast file transfers between devices, digital data acquisition, and machine control.

In comparison to the forthcoming USB2, the Universal Parallel Port (UPP) driven by the Trans Processor engine features . . .

• 2 times higher speed — the effective transfer rate of UPP (up to 8 MBytes/sec) is two times that of comparable USB2 transfer.

• 20 times longer transfer distance — UPP transfers up to 100m, vs. 5m maximum transfer distance for USB2.

• 100 times lower power consumption — UPP draws 5-10mA current @ 5V, whereas USB2 port draws minimum 500 mA up to over 1 Amp. at 5V. This is a few times more then the main processor of a notebook PC; therefore, USB2 has no future with Notebook PCs, digital cameras and other portable devices where the battery life and power
  consumption are among the most important design considerations.

• Automatic error handling — UPP has an “on-the-fly” transfer error elimination mechanism built into the Trans Processor hardware, so the software driving the UPP does not have to deal with error handling. With USB2, error processing is totally left for the software, which dramatically reduces overall effective transfer rate.

• Backwards compatibility — UPP is backward compatible with the standard PC parallel port. USB2 requires new hardware and software interfaces built for USB2 compatibility, with very problematic backward compatibility with previous USB1 and USB1.1 devices.

• Reduced emissions — unlike UPP, USB2 emits extremely high levels of electromagnetic emissions due to its high power high frequency transfer. This is especially significant in the range over 700MHz, associated with the third and higher harmonics because it will interfere with many promising new wireless technologies.

 
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