VDRIVE2 - easily add USB Flash Drive interface to products.
VDRIVE2 is possibly the easiest solution for adding a USB Flash Drive interface to existing products. Only four signal lines plus 5V supply and ground are required to be connected. Using the Vinculum VDAP firmware the VNC1L I/O interface can be selected between the serial UART or SPI using the on-board jumper pins. Not only is the VDrive2 ideal for evaluation and development of VNC1L designs, but also its neat enclosure and attractive quantity discount structure makes this module suitable for incorporation into finished product designs. The VDrive2 is ideal for commercial products such as domestic goods, set top box, etc., as well as industrial products such as data loggers, software upgradable products, etc.
Key VDRIVE2 features include :
- Uses F.T.D.I VNC1L embedded USB host controller I.C. device.
- USB type socket to connect USB Flash drive.
- Traffic indicator LED.
- 2 mm (0.08") pitch 8 pin connector.
- 8-way header interconnect cable provided.
- Only four signals to connect, excluding power and ground.
- Jumper selectable UART or SPI interfaces.
- Single 5V supply input.
- Uses VDAP firmware and command set.
- Enclosure with snap in place clips allow for easy front panel mounting.
- Program or update firmware via USB Flash disk.
VDrive2 is a Pb-free, RoHS complaint development module.
Schematic and firmware files available for download from the Vinculum website.
By adding a PIC microcontroller and a few other components, the VDRIVE2 module can be turned into a Flash disk based data logger. Figure below shows the schematic of this simple application. The AC signal input is connected to the 10-bit analogue to digital converter on board the Microchip PIC. The code takes a pre-defined number of samples and then writes the corresponding ASCII values to a comma separated value (CSV) file on the USB flash disk attached to the module. Vinculum's DOS like commands simplify the task of file handling. An extended command set is designed for use with a terminal whilst a shortened hexadecimal version is used with a microcontroller.
Consult the Vinculum VDAP firmware datasheet for full details of the command set used by the VDrive2.4.
