Evatronix Adds the USB On-The-Go Software Stack to Its USB Solutions Portfolio

Gliwice & Bielsko-Biala, Poland, 14th May 2007- The silicon Intellectual Property (IP) provider, Evatronix SA, today announced the release of the USBOTG Software Stack that supports the implementation of the USB and USB OTG functionality in any embedded application based on company USB device and OTG controllers.

The USBOTG Software Stack complies with USB 2.0 standard and OTG Supplement. The user can work with different processors easily switching between different platforms thanks to the extended portability of the Stack. It provides Device and Host Application Programming Interfaces (DAPI/HAPI) which allow the user to build their own application without detailed knowledge of the USB controller hardware. As an added value to the user the USBOTG Software Stack has a minimal memory footprint (simple application requires 14kBytes) which makes it easier for designers to meet their particular memory size limitations.

“Our decision to extend the USB product line by software support demonstrates the concern about our customers, who work with the certified cores. We would like to provide them with more complex and adequate solutions that will reduce development costs and accelerate their time to market. The USB-IF Certification is only the first step, the next steps in the Evatronix strategy to deliver the efficient solutions to their customers are to go beyond their increasing requirements and expectations in developing cutting-edge products. To fully complete this aim we also certified the CUSB2 core embodied in the reference design at the USB IF workshop, however some products with the CUSB2 had been certified earlier.”- said Wojciech Sakowski, Evatronix President.

Evatronix USBOTG Software Stack was written in C and is easily portable not only between different Evatronix USB controllers (ie. CUSB2, USBHS-OTG-SD or USBHS-OTG-MPD cores), but also between different CPU architectures and different underlying hardware environments. To support this portability it has three sets of hardware interface procedures: EVCI – Evatronix Controller Interface that has to be configured to match particular USB controller used, CPU interface and the interface to hardware resources available for the stack in the target system (e.g. resources of a particular prototyping board on which the USB system runs). While the EVCI is specific to Evatronix hardware the other interfaces enable customers to port the Stack to their systems easily.

The Device and Host Application Programming Interfaces (DAPI/HAPI) allow the user to add USB connection to its own application without detailed knowledge of the underlying USB controller functionality. The Stack works even in systems with limited CPU performance (e.g. based on 8-bit architectures like R8051XC) and limited memory space. Some implementations of the Stack require just 14KBytes of program memory and 256bytes of data memory.

“The initialization process as well as the Software Stack configuration can be properly performed by the user in a very short time”- said Pawel Jez – the Software Project Manager at Evatronix. ”The application functions, which are used in the initialization, exist as a callback function in the Software Stack, while the configuration is performed by a modification in a single file by setting the corresponding definitions to required values. To further ease the adoption and usage of the Software Stack we added a wide collection of examples to the distribution package. They illustrate how to build different device applications working within various USB classes. Moreover our customers can very easily and quickly build the OTG application thanks to the rich set of Linux-like API functions. The applications, based on Evatronix Software Stack, meet all USB standard requirements.”- he added.

Availability

The USBOTG Software Stack as well as the USB controller cores are available now worldwide through the distribution network of Evatronix strategic partner CAST, Inc. (New Jersey, USA). In the European Union countries (excluding UK) and Switzerland Evatronix also operates a direct sales channel.