June 13, 2018 – Fully certified two-chip solution includes port controller
Helping engineers leverage the latest USB Power Delivery capabilities and versatile USB Type-C™[1] connections in new or legacy product designs, STMicroelectronics has introduced new software for implementing a Type-C Port Manager (TCPM) on any general-
Compliant with the USB Type-C Port Controller Interface (TCPCi) specification, and designed to manage a separate single- or multi-port Type-C Port Controller (TCPC) chip, ST’s X-CUBE-USB-PD stack implements the protocol layer and policy engine of the USB Power Delivery Specification (USB-PD 3.0 v1.1). The stack demands minimal STM32 resources, having a low memory footprint and using only a single I2C bus address and one alert pin per port. In addition, standard register maps ensure easy interoperability with any connected TCPC device.
X-CUBE-USB-PD supports all USB-PD 3.0 options, including Programmable Power Supply (PPS) for connecting fast chargers, Fast Role Swap (FRS) for seamless user experiences during cable insertion or removal, and authentication-message exchange to allow data or power transfer only with genuine devices or chargers.
By supporting Provider, Consumer, and Dual-Role (DRP) modes, the stack enables product designers to leverage the benefits of USB Type-C in a wide variety of equipment types, such as power hubs or power banks, docking stations, game controllers, PC peripherals, multi-function accessories, and small appliances such as cordless vacuum cleaners, portable speakers, lighting products, proprietary chargers, and many other applications.
ST has tested the stack with ON Semiconductor’s FUSB307B, a USB-PD 3.0 v1.1-certified TCPC chip, creating a fully certified and ready-to-use solution that centralizes the TCPM for multiple USB-PD ports. The FUSB307B provides a 1Mbps I2C microcontroller interface and handles functionality such as plug-insertion/orientation detection and dead-battery power-up. Time-critical Power-Delivery functions that offload the microcontroller effectively enable any STM32 including entry-level devices to manage multi-port, multi-role USB-PD interfaces. X-CUBE-USB-PD currently contains libraries tested on STM32 Arm® Cortex®-M0 and Cortex-M4 microcontrollers, giving developers a choice of over 420 different part numbers. Libraries for other STM32 series will be introduced by the end of 2018.
An ON Semiconductor FUSB307B evaluation board, ON-FUSB3-STM32, is also available to help streamline development. The board, which features a STM32F072microcontroller and a USB-C connector, demonstrates control of a single port.
The X-CUBE-USB-PD stack, part of the STM32Cube software-development ecosystem, can be downloaded now, free of charge, from www.st.com/x-cube-usb-pd
[1] USB Type-C is a trademark of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). The specification defines the mechanical interconnection, which is featured to support the latest USB specifications including up to 2x 10Gbps (USB 3.2) data exchanges and the USB Power Delivery specification (USB-PD), which allows bidirectional power transfers of up to 100W at 20V. Physically compact, USB Type-C allows an aperture approximately 9mm x 3.5mm, while plugs and cables are reversible for optimum ease of use.
* STM32 is a registered and/or unregistered trademark of STMicroelectronics International NV or its affiliates in the EU and/or elsewhere. In particular, STM32 is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.
