USB 3.x

Cable applications for interface USB 3.0:

• Control and management of equipment in industrial enterprises and in medical institutions;
• Providing access to remote video terminals with touch screens;
• Synchronizing your computer with iPod and various smartphones;
• Connection of high-resolution security cameras, external hard drives and multi-room audio systems running from USB.

USB Type-C

Main article: USB Type-C

USB 4.x

Main article: USB 4.x

2017: USB 3.2 will provide twice the data transfer rate

At the end of July, The USB 3.0 Promoter Group, which develops standards of the same name, announced the release of a draft version of the USB 3.2 specifications that define multi-band traffic between hosts and USB 3.2 devices. The final version of the specifications is scheduled to be presented in September 2017.^[1]

Features of the 3.2 Standard

Initially, the USB interface was designed to exchange data between host systems and devices using a serial cable connection to a single-band signal bus. The USB 3.2 standard implements the ability to use up to two signal buses (lines) per port.As a result, two SuperSpeed ​ ​ USB buses with a performance of up to 5 Gbps each will provide performance up to 10 Gbps, respectively, two 10 Gbps buses certified according to SuperSpeed ​ ​ USB 10 Gbps will give performance up to 20 Gbps. At the same time, double the speed of data exchange will be possible with existing cables (for example, USB Type-C, certified according to SuperSpeed ​ ​ USB 10 Gbps technology).

USB Standards Capabilities

Along with the multi-band (2-line) speed mode of operation using the existing fleet of USB Type-C cables, the new USB 3.2 standard is also fully compatible with coding technologies and transfer speeds standardized for the SuperSpeed ​ ​ USB physical data exchange layer.

In addition, the USB 3.2 specifications expect minimal hub performance updates due to increased exchange rates and guarantee seamless transitions between interface modes using one or two lines.

In addition, the standard version 3.2 will implement standard support for the USB Power Delivery function, which provides the ability to quickly charge batteries.

2013: USB 3.1 increases data transfer rate to 10 Gbps

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group prepared in the summer of 2013 the final specifications of the USB 3.1 standard - a universal serial bus with a bandwidth of 10 Gb/s. This is twice the maximum speed of the SuperSpeed ​ ​ USB interface, which meets the USB 3.0 specification. This standard was first announced in January at the CES 2013 consumer electronics show. ^[2].

The update will be backward compatible with 3.0 and 2.0 standards, but the announced speed will only be achievable for USB 3.1 enabled devices. SuperSpeed ​ ​ USB 10 Gb/s uses better data coding, which has improved the efficiency of data exchange.

Interestingly, Intel announced support for the new technology, which developed its own competing Thunderbolt protocol with a data transfer rate of 20 Gbps. The fact is that Thunderbolt supports a little more than a hundred devices, and their number is replenished too slowly.

Experts believe that USB 3.1 technology will allow people using multiple devices to transfer large amounts of data between them almost instantly.

A detailed description of the new standard is posted on the USB Implementers Forum website. As it became known, the organization USB 3.0 Promoter Group hopes to speed up the process of introducing USB 3.1 and is going to hold several events for developers by the end of this year. In serial models of motherboards, drives, routers, etc., USB 3.1 will most likely appear no earlier than the second half of 2014.

2011: Apple patents miniature USB 3.0 connector

The patent, filed in the fall of 2009, describes a miniature connector with 30 contacts for mobile devices like the iPhone and iPod. Although a distinctive feature of the patented connector is its reduced size, it should also be noted that the connector also supports two new cable communication standards: USB 3.0 and DisplayPort. The DisplayPort standard provides for up to four simultaneous data streams over the respective wire pairs. The total bandwidth of the interface can reach 17.28 Gbps.^[3]

In 2011, Apple and Intel jointly introduced another cable data technology, Thunderbolt (known as Light Peak during development). It will be implemented for the first time in MacBook Pro computers and, theoretically, can provide data transfer at speeds up to 10 Gbps. The current patent, however, does not mention Thunderbolt technology.

Notes