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Xmultiple's
Engineering Department
USB
Type-C Provides Faster Data Rates
The
Type-C is the next generation of USB connectors
and cables which will be easier to use and
able to push more data faster. USB connectors
have become the connector of choice for some
manufacturers of smartphones, tablets and
other mobile devices. It is the desired means
to connect mobile devices to power sources
and to other devices. Currently, there are
seven different types of USB connectors already
in use: USB 2.0 A, B, mini B and micro B;
and USB 3.0 A, B and micro B. The USB Type-C
adds the eighth type of USB connector and
is the most powerful of all the types available.
The
new Type-C connector is also slightly bigger
than the Apple Lightning connector, with Type-C
sized at approximately 8.4mm by 2.6mm and
Lightning coming in at 7.7 mm by 1.7 mm. Unlike
the reversible Lightning, but similar to USB
connectors before it, the USB Type-C connector
has a mid-plate inside the receptacle that
the plug surrounds when it's inserted.
The
Type-C connector has 18 pins. Therefore, the
Type-C is essentially two USB 3.1 SuperSpeed
connectors. The Superspeed connectors have
the standard four pins, plus five more to
enable 10Gbps connections. If you plug the
connector in one way, the top set of pins
are used; if you plug it in the other way,
the bottom set of pins are used. The Type-C
connector also supports the new USB Power
Delivery specifications which allows for up
to 100 watts to be carried over a USB cable.
This is enough power to charge a laptop or
power most peripherals, including a monitor.
The
Type-C plug may be the single most important
USB connector ever developed and will be used
to link everything from a smartphone, tablet,
PC's keyboard and mouse to external storage
devices and displays.
The
Type-C plug has an advanced design and greatly
enhances the power and capability of USB connectors
and at the same time reducing their size.
The
most important feature of the Type- C plus
is that the USB Type-C connector is vertically
symmetrical, which means no more trying to
figure out the right way to plug it in. The
Type- C plug is wider and thicker (8.3mm x
2.5mm) than the current Micro USB connector
(which is 6.8mm x 1.8mm). It looks a lot like
the current flat oval-shaped Micro USB plug.
The Type-C connector is vertically symmetrical
with contacts on both sides.
It's
easy to see the difference between the older
USB port (right) and the newer symmetrical
one (left). The Type-C plug meets the SuperSpeed
USB 31 10 Gbps Spec. and many new controller
chips for devices that have been developed.
Called SuperSpeed+ for short, the new spec
is backward compatible to the older USB specs,
and with the right equipment on both ends,
will be able to move up to 10Gbps of data
back and forth.
The Type-C can handle the faster data rates
which means the USB 3.1 can be used for products
with a variety of new uses. The Type-C has
roughly the same peak bandwidth available
as an HDMI 1.4 connection and is capable of
potentially carrying a 4096 x 2304 video stream
at 30 fps.
How
USB deals with power has been updated in other
ways as well. Currently, a typical micro USB
plug is capable of producing enough power
to charge a phone or tablet. The new Type-C
incorporates and implements the USB Power
Delivery Specification. As a result, a Type-C
plug can work with devices that require five,
12 or 20 volts of electricity; it tops out
at delivering 100 watts of power.
Key
characteristics of the USB Type-C connector
include:
-
New
design Of USB Connector for Higher Data
Speeds
-
Tailored
for emerging Mobile product designs
-
Data
Speeds for laptops and tablets; slim enough
for mobile phones
-
Similar
to size of USB 2.0 Micro-B
-
-
Reversible
plug orientation and cable direction
-
Supports
scalable power charging
-
-
Designed
to support future USB performance needs
Mechanical
specifications:
-
Receptacle
opening: ~8.4mm x ~2.6mm
-
Durability:
10,000 cycles
-
Improved
EMI- and RFI-mitigation features
-
Power
delivery capacity: 3A for standard cables
and 5A for connectors
Drawings:
USB Type C Drawings
USB
Type C SMT Vertical Mount Drawing
Recommended
CAD/CAM for USB Type-C
Recommended
CAD/CAM Layout for USB Type C Drawings
USB 3.1
A
January 2013 press release from the USB group revealed plans
to update USB 3.0 to 10 Gbit/s. The group ended up creating
a new USB version, USB 3.1, which was released on 31 July
2013, introducing a faster transfer mode called "SuperSpeed
USB 10 Gbit/s", putting it on par with a single first-generation
Thunderbolt channel. The new mode's logo features a "Superspeed+"
caption (stylized as SUPERSPEED+). The USB 3.1 standard
increases the data signaling rate to 10 Gbit/s in the USB
3.1 Gen2 mode, double that of USB 3.0 (referred to as USB
3.1 Gen1) and reduces line encoding overhead to just 3%
by changing the encoding scheme to 128b/132b. However, some
initial tests demonstrated usable transfer speeds of only
7.2 Gbit/s, suggesting a 30% overall overhead.[29]
The
USB 3.1 standard is backward compatible with USB 3.0 and
USB 2.0.
The
USB Type-C Specification 1.0 defines a new small reversible-plug
connector for USB 3.1 devices. The Type-C plug will be used
at both host and device side, replacing multiple Type-B
and Type-A connectors and cables with a future-proof standard
similar to Apple Lightning and Thunderbolt. The 24-pin double-sided
connector provides four power/ground pairs, two differential
pairs for USB 2.0 data bus (though only one pair is implemented
in a Type-C cable), four pairs for high-speed data bus,
two "sideband use" pins, and two configuration
pins for cable orientation detection, dedicated biphase
mark code (BMC) configuration data channel, and VCONN +5
V power for active cables. Type-A and Type-B adaptors/cables
will be required for legacy devices in order to plug into
Type-C hosts, however adaptors/cables with a Type-C receptacle
are not allowed.
Full-featured
USB 3.1 Type-C cables are active electronically marked cables
and contain a chip with an ID function based on the configuration
data channel and vendor-defined messages (VDMs) from the
USB Power Delivery 2.0 specification. USB 3.1 Type-C devices
also support power currents of 1.5 A and 3.0 A over the
5 V power bus in addition to baseline 900 mA; devices can
either negotiate increased USB current through the configuration
line, or they can optionally support the full Power Delivery
specification using both BMC-coded configuration line and
legacy BFSK-coded VBUS line.
Alternate
Mode dedicates some of the physical wires in the Type-C
cable for direct device-to-host transmission of alternate
data protocols. The four high-speed lanes, two sideband
pins, and - for dock, detachable device and permanent cable
applications only - two USB 2.0 pins and one configuration
pin can be used for Alternate Mode transmission. The modes
are configured using VDMs through the configuration channel.
As of December 2014, Alt Mode implementations include DisplayPort
1.3 and MHL 3.0; other serial protocols like PCI Express
and Base-T Ethernet are possible.
Wiring
Type C:
Full-featured USB 3.1 Type-C Cable Wiring
| Type-C
Plug 1 |
Type-C
Cable |
Type-C
Plug 2 |
| Pin |
Name |
Wire
Color |
Name |
Description |
Pin |
Name |
| Shell |
Shield |
Braid |
Shield |
Cable
external braid |
Shell |
Shield |
| A1,
B1, A12, B12 |
GND |
Tin-plated |
GND_PWRrt1
GND_PWRrt2 |
Ground
for power return |
A1,
B1, A12, B12 |
GND |
| A4,
B4, A9, B9 |
VBUS |
Red |
PWR_VBUS1
PWR_VBUS2 |
VBUS
power |
A4,
B4, A9, B9 |
VBUS |
| B5 |
VCONN |
Yellow
|
PWR_VCONN |
VCONN
power |
B5 |
VCONN |
| A5 |
CC |
Blue |
CC |
Configuration
Channel |
A5 |
CC |
| A6 |
Dp1 |
White |
UTP_Dp |
Unshielded
twisted pair, positive |
A6 |
Dp1 |
| A7 |
Dn1 |
Green |
UTP_Dn |
Unshielded
twisted pair, negative |
A7 |
Dn1 |
| A8 |
SBU1 |
Red |
SBU_A |
Sideband
Use A |
B8 |
SBU2 |
| B8 |
SBU2 |
Black |
SBU_B |
Sideband
Use B |
A8 |
SBU1 |
| A2 |
SSTXp1 |
Yellow
* |
SDPp1 |
Shielded
differential pair #1, positive |
B11 |
SSRXp1 |
| A3 |
SSTXn1 |
Brown
* |
SDPn1 |
Shielded
differential pair #1, negative |
B10 |
SSRXn1 |
| B11 |
SSRXp1 |
Green
* |
SDPp2 |
Shielded
differential pair #2, positive |
A2 |
SSTXp1 |
| B10 |
SSRXn1 |
Orange
* |
SDPn2 |
Shielded
differential pair #2, negative |
A3 |
SSTXn1 |
| B2 |
SSTXp2 |
White
* |
SDPp3 |
Shielded
differential pair #3, positive |
A11 |
SSRXp2 |
| B3 |
SSTXn2 |
Black
* |
SDPn3 |
Shielded
differential pair #3, negative |
A10 |
SSRXn2 |
| A11 |
SSRXp2 |
Red
* |
SDPp4 |
Shielded
differential pair #4, positive |
B2 |
SSTXp2 |
| A10 |
SSRXn2 |
Blue
* |
SDPn4 |
Shielded
differential pair #4, negative |
B3 |
SSTXn2 |
| *
Wire colors for differential pairs are not mandated |
USB
Type C Pinouts:
USB Type-C Connector Pinouts
| Pin |
Name |
Description |
Pin |
Name |
Description |
| A1 |
GND |
Ground
return |
B12 |
GND |
Ground
return |
| A2 |
SSTXp1 |
Positive
half of first SuperSpeed TX differential pair |
B11 |
SSRXp1 |
Positive
half of first SuperSpeed RX differential pair |
| A3 |
SSTXn1 |
Negative
half of first SuperSpeed TX differential pair |
B10 |
SSRXn1 |
Negative
half of first SuperSpeed RX differential pair |
| A4 |
VBUS |
Bus
Power |
B9 |
VBUS |
Bus
Power |
| A5 |
CC1 |
Configuration
Channel |
B8 |
SBU2 |
Sideband
Use (SBU) |
| A6 |
Dp1 |
Positive
half of the USB 2.0 differential pair, Position 1 |
B7 |
Dn2 |
Negative
half of the USB 2.0 differential pair, Position 2 |
| A7 |
Dn1 |
Negative
half of the USB 2.0 differential pair, Position 1 |
B6 |
Dp2 |
Positive
half of the USB 2.0 differential pair, Position 2 |
| A8 |
SBU1 |
Sideband
Use (SBU) |
B5 |
CC2 |
Configuration
Channel |
| A9 |
VBUS |
Bus
Power |
B4 |
VBUS |
Bus
Power |
| A10 |
SSRXn2 |
Negative
half of second SuperSpeed RX differential pair |
B3 |
SSTXn2 |
Negative
half of second SuperSpeed TX differential pair |
| A11 |
SSRXp2 |
Positive
half of second SuperSpeed RX differential pair |
B2 |
SSTXp2 |
Positive
half of second SuperSpeed TX differential pair |
| A12 |
GND |
Ground
return |
B1 |
GND |
Ground
return |
| *
Pins B6 and B7 are not physically present in the plug |
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