ABSTRACT

Universal Serial Bus is an interface for

communicating external peripherals with a
PC. In this report, various interfaces prevalent
today and their comparisons with USB are
brought out. Different types of USB
controllers along with the chips available in
market is discussed in detail. The USB
hardware and software details along with USB
products available in market are presented.
The advantages both from the user and
developer point of view are included. A brief
discussion on different data transfers
supported by USB and how the peripheral
gets enumerated as soon as it is plugged into
a port is also included.
 INTRODUCTION
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is primarily a PC bus, which is
designed so that simple and efficient way of communication is
possible with many types of peripherals, without the frustrations and
limitations of existing interfaces. In other interfaces, each peripheral
depending on its speed has its own type of interface. Another major
disadvantage while connecting a new peripheral, an Extended
Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) card is to be connected as
limited Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slots exist on a
mother board. To overcome all these problems and ease in
peripheral connectivity, an organization called Universal Serial Bus –
Implementers Forum [1] formed to do away with all the existing
different varieties of interfaces and to come with an ideal interface
which have the following features.
A USB is a common computer port, which shorts for Universal Serial
Bus and allows communication between a computer and peripheral
or other devices. It is the most common interface used in today's
computers, which can be used to connect printers,
scanners, keyboards, mice, game controllers, digital cameras,
external hard drives and flash drives. The USB has replaced a wide
range of interfaces like the parallel and serial port because it is used
for a wide variety of uses as well as offers better support for electrical
power. With a single USB port, up to 127 peripherals can be
connected with the help of a few USB hubs, although that will need
quite a bit of dexterity.
1. TYPES OF USB

1)USB-A
Found on host controllers in computers and hubs, the A-style
connector is a flat, rectangular interface. This interface holds the
connection in place by friction which makes it very easy for users to
connect and disconnect. Instead of round pins, the connector uses flat
contacts which can withstand continuous attachment and removal very
well. The A-socket connector provides a "downstream" connection that is
intended for use solely on host controllers and hubs. It was not intended
for use as an "upstream" connector on a peripheral device. This is critical
because a host controller or hub is designed to provide 5V DC power on
one of the USB pins. Though not that common, A-A cables are used to
connect USB devices with an A-style Female port to a PC or another USB
device, and for data transfer between two computer systems.
 2)USB-B
The B-style connector is designed for use on USB peripheral
devices. The B-style interface is squarish in shape, and has slightly
beveled corners on the top ends of the connector. Like the A connector, it
uses the friction of the connector body to stay in place. The B-socket is an
"upstream" connector that is only used on peripheral devices. Because of
this, the majority of USB applications require an A-B cable.
 3)USB-C
The USB-C or USB Type-C connector has
reversible/symmetrical design and is 60% smaller than USB-A. It can be
plugged into any USB-C device with its symmetrical connectors that can
be inserted either way, right side up or upside down. It has been tested
with up to 10,000 connection cycles and is 6 times more durable than
USB-A. A USB-C cable is capable of carrying USB 4, Thunderbolt 4,
Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.2, USB 3.1, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, and USB 1.1 signals.
USB-C 3.2 can carry up to 100W, which is enough power to support
traditional mobile device charging. Native support of DisplayPort video
and four channel audio will allow a USB-C device to connect to a
computer monitor, HDTV, surround sound system and headphones.
Transfer rates up to 40Gbits/s make USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 ideal
solutions for transferring large amounts of data, such as HD video for
editing, Blu-ray™ authoring, or high resolution photos for editing or
storage.
 4)USB-3.0 A
Known as "SuperSpeed", this A-style connector is commonly found on
host controllers in computers and hubs, the A-style connector is a flat,
rectangular interface. This interface holds the connection in place by
friction which makes it very easy for users to connect and disconnect.
Instead of round pins, the connector uses flat contacts which can
withstand continuous attachment and removal very well. The A-socket
connector provides a "downstream" connection that is intended for use
solely on host controllers and hubs. This connector is similar in size and
shape to the A-Type connector used in USB 2.0 & USB 1.1 applications.
However, the USB 3.0 A-type has additional pins that are not found in the
USB 2.0 & USB 1.1 A-Type. The USB 3.0 connector is designed for USB
SuperSpeed applications; however, it will carry data from slower speed
connections, and it is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports. USB 3.0
A connectors are often blue in color to help identify them from previous
versions.
 5)USB 3.0 B
The USB 3.0 B connector is found on USB 3.0 devices. This
connector is designed to carry data and power in USB SuperSpeed
applications. Cables with this connector are not backwards compatible
with USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 devices; however USB 3.0 devices with this
connection type can accept previous USB 2.0 and 1.1 cabling.

6)USB MICRO-A
Recognized by the USB-IF, this connector can be found on mobile
devices such as cellphones, GPS units, and digital cameras. Micro-USB A
offers a connection physically smaller in size to a USB Mini-b, while still
supporting the high speed transfer rate of 480 Mbps and On-The-Go
features. The connection can be easily identified by its white-colored
receptacle and compact 5 pin design.
 7)USB MICRO-B
Recognized by the USB-IF, this connector can be found on mobile
devices such as cellphones, GPS units, and digital cameras. Micro-USB B
offers a connection physically smaller in size to a USB Mini-B, while still
supporting the high-speed transfer rate of 480 Mbps. The connection can
be easily identified by its black-colored receptacle and compact 5 pin
design.

8)USB MINI-B (4-PIN)

Instead of the typical 5-pin Mini-b, this unofficial connector is
found on many digital cameras, especially certain Kodak® models. It
resembles the shape of a standard B-style connector, with beveled
corners; however, it is much smaller in size.
 9) USB MINI-B (5-PIN)
One drawback to the B-style connector is its size, which measures
almost a half inch on each side. This made the B-style interface unsuitable
for many compact personal electronic devices. As a result, many device
manufacturers began the miniaturization of USB connectors with this
Mini-b. This 5-pin Mini-b is recognized by the USB-IF. By default, a Mini-b
cable is presumed to have 5 pins. This connector is quite small, about
two-thirds the width of an A-style connector.

10) USB 3.0 MICRO B

The USB 3.0 Micro-B connector is found on USB 3.0 devices. This
connector is designed to carry data and power in USB SuperSpeed
applications. Cables with this connector are not backwards compatible
with USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 devices.
 USB CONTROLLER
Universal Serial Bus (USB) Host Controller is an interface or
driver that allows an enables a piece of hardware for e.g 
your flash drive, Ipods, mouse, keyboard etc to interact and
communicate with your PC. The USB connection has an input
and output port that comes standard with most computers
and a variety of other digital equipment that allows data to
be transmitted through a cable or any other form of direct
connection.
USB OVERVIEW
USB systems consist of a host, which is typically a personal computer
(PC) and multiple peripheral devices connected through a tiered-star
topology. This topology may also include hubs that allow additional
connection points to the USB system. The host itself contains two
components, the host controller and the root hub. The host
controller is a hardware chipset with a software driver layer that is
responsible for these tasks:
 Detect attachment and removal of USB devices
 Manage data flow between host and devices
 Provide and manage power to attached devices
 Monitor activity on the bus
At least one host controller is present in a host and it is possible to
have more than one host controller. Each controller allows
connection of up to 127 devices with the use of external USB hubs.
The root hub is an internal hub that connects to the host controller(s)
and acts as the first interface layer to the USB in a system. Currently
on your PC, there are multiple USB ports. These ports are part of the
root hub in your PC. For simplicity, look at the root hub and host
controller from the abstract view of a ―black box‖ that we call the
host.
USB devices consist of one or more device functions, such as a
mouse, keyboard, or audio device for example. Each device is given
an address by the host, which is used in the data communication
between that device and the host. USB device communication is
done through pipes. These pipes are a connection pathway from the
host controller to an addressable buffer called an endpoint. An
endpoint stores received data from the host and holds the data that
is waiting to transmit to the host. A USB device can have multiple
endpoints and each endpoint has a pipe associated with it.
  USB PIPE MODEL
There are two types of pipes in a USB system, control pipes and data
pipes. The USB specification defines four different data transfer
types. Which pipe is used depends on the data transfer type.
 Control Transfers Used for sending commands to the device, make
inquiries, and configure the device. This transfer uses the control
pipe.
 Interrupt Transfers Used for sending small amounts of bursty data
that requires a guaranteed minimum latency. This transfer uses a
data pipe.
 Bulk Transfers Used for large data transfers that use all available
USB bandwidth with no guarantee on transfer speed or latency. This
transfer uses a data pipe.
 Isochronous Transfers Used for data that requires a guaranteed
data delivery rate. Isochronous transfers are capable of this
guaranteed delivery time due to their guaranteed latency,
guaranteed bus bandwidth, and lack of error correction. Without the
error correction, there is no halt in transmission while packets
containing errors are resent. This transfer uses a data pipe.
Every device has a control pipe and it is through this pipe that control
transfers to send and receive messages from the device are
performed. Optionally, a device may have data pipes for transferring
data through interrupt, bulk, or isochronous transfers. The control
pipe is the only bidirectional pipe in the USB system. All the data
pipes are unidirectional.
Each endpoint is accessed with a device address (assigned by the
host) and an endpoint number (assigned by the device). When
information is sent to the device, the device address and endpoint
number are identified with a token packet (discussed later in
Communication Protocol section). The host initiates this token packet
before a data transaction.
When a USB device is first connected to a host, the USB enumeration
process is initiated. Enumeration is the process of exchanging
information between the device and the host that includes learning
about the device. Additionally, enumeration includes assigning an
address to the device, reading descriptors (which are data structures
that provide information about the device), and assigning and
loading a device driver. This entire process can occur in seconds. For
more information see the USB Enumeration and Configuration
section. When this process is complete, the device is ready to
transfer data to the host. The flow chart of the general enumeration
process Two files are affiliated with enumeration and the loading of
a driver. They exist on the host side.
 .INF – A text file that contains all the information necessary to
install a device, such as driver names and locations, Windows registry
information, and driver version information.
 .SYS – The driver needed to communicate effectively with the USB
device.
After a device is enumerated, the host directs all traffic flow to the
devices on the bus. Because of this, no device can transfer data
without a request from the host controller.
 SEQUENCE OF ENUMERATION EVENTS
USB HISTORY
USB is an industry standard developed for the connection of
electronic peripherals such as keyboard, mice, modems, and hard
drives to a computer. This standard was developed in order to
replace larger and slower connections such as serial and parallel
ports. The standard was developed through a joint effort, starting in
1994, between Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and Nortel.
The goals were to develop a single interface that could be used
across multiple devices, eliminate the many different connectors
currently available at the time, and increase the data throughput of
electronic devices
Over the years, the USB specification has undergone multiple
revisions. It all started with USB 1.0, which was finalized in January of
1996. The original specification only included support for two speeds:
Low-Speed (LS), which supported 1.5 Mb/s and Full-Speed (FS), which
supported 12 Mb/s. While Low-Speed was slower than Full-Speed, it
was less susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI), which
made it attractive to many USB device developers because lower cost
components could be used. In 1998, USB 1.1 was developed and
added some clarifications and improvements to the USB 1.0
specification. It was not until the release of USB 2.0 in April 2000 that
the next major change occurred. This revision added a new speed,
High-Speed (HS), to the specification making it capable of 480 Mb/s.
This specification revision is backward-compatible with USB 1.1 and
1.0. That same backward compatibility was maintained when USB 3.0
was announced in November 2008, providing speeds up to 5 Gb/s.
With USB 3.0 came a new physical connector as well. More recently,
plans for USB 3.1 were announced by USB-IF, which will increase
speeds up to 10 Gb/s. USB is currently regulated by the USB
Implementers Forum (USB-IF), which is a non profit organization that
maintains the USB documents and compliance programs.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USB

 ADVANTAGES OF USB
1. COST
Manufacturing a USB drive can be done at very low cost since it
can be easily scaled. Comparing to most of the external storage
devices out there, USB drives are relatively inexpensive.
Depending on the storage capacity the prices can vary. Hence, it is
easily affordable to the people with low budget.
 
2. SPEED
Since USB drives does not require any form of internet
connection, it has relatively high speed transfer rates. However
the speed is determined by several factors such as the USB
version, hardware bus and USB controller device. 
 
3. CAPACITY
During its initial stages, USB drives did not support much of the
storage capacities. Until now there are USB drives supporting up
to 2TB of space. Therefore, users don't need to be in the burden of
carrying an external hardware in the instances of large storage
capacities. 

4. PHYSICAL SIZE
During its initial stages, USB drives did not support much of the
storage capacities. Until now there are USB drives supporting up
to 2TB of space. Therefore, users don't need to be in the burden
of carrying an external hardware in the instances of large storage
capacities. 
 5. COMPATIBILITY
Currently there are many operating systems, platforms and
devices which support USB drive. Whether you have a desktop,
laptop or a gaming console all are equipped with a USB port.
However you have to make sure that these devices has the same
port as the USB drive. If it doesn't, you will not be able to connect
it.

6. DURABILITY
Unlike a hard drive where it is going to loose all the data if it is
subjected to mechanical shocks more frequently, such chances
for a USB drive is quite low. And also if it is free from data losses
occurring from scratches, dusts and exposure to magnetic fields.

7. AUTO-CONFIGURATIONS
When the peripheral USB device is plugged in for the first time,
the device driver software needs to be installed only once. The
host operating system then afterwards automatically loads the
configurations so that the user don't need to install them
again.

 DISADVANTAGES OF USB
1.CORRUPTION
A USB drives tends to be used in different computers. If in
case one of the computers happens to be malware infected, it could
easily transfer them on to the drives since it is not malware free. This
could result the files unreadable making them useless.
 2.LIFESPAN
USB drives does not posses unlimited lifespan. There is a limitation
in the number of read and write cycles. This is roughly found to be
around 100000 cycles. After this period, the USB drive is probably
going to fail. Unless you are a regular user who frequently writes and
deletes data this won't be a problem. They are certainly not
recommended for booting operating systems and launching
applications.

3.SECURITY THREATS
Some of the USB drives does contain a security weakness in the form
of encryption. This type of weakness can pose security threats
revealing all of your confidential data. For overcoming this most the
flash manufacturers has come up with a updated software that all
the users should check with.

4.RISK OF LOSING
The physical size of flash drives may also be the reason for its loss.
Due to their size they can be easily misplaced and get stolen. For an
example they can get slipped out of your pocket or even snatched
unknowingly. This won't be a problem until you have critical and
sensitive data in them. For this reason many keep USB drives as a key
chain and necklaces. 

5.BROADCASTING
In between a USB and a host computer, there is no broadcasting
feature. Only individual messages can be sent in between them.
 
6.MECHANICAL DAMAGES
Al though USB drives are less vulnerable when it comes to
mechanical damages, it is not completely free of it. USB drives
contain a retractable USB plug that can be wear and tear or even
bend. In this case the drive becomes completely useless.

7.MANUFACTURE QUALITY
Some of the manufacturers produce low quality USB drives for a
cheaper price. However their overall quality remains a question.
Always the printed circuit boards are integrated with a metal tip
using the methods of soldering. If the pieces are not properly
soldered, it can weaken the stress point. 

 CONCLUSION

Presently, all the new PC’s are coming with two USB ports. We can
expand the number of peripherals by using hubs available in
market [2].We can upgrade older PC’s by connecting Host-
Controller in the expansion slot of motherboard provided
operating system in PC has support for USB. Windows98 and its
successors and many operating systems support it. In future, PC’s
will come with an embedded hub with varying number of ports
with a minimum of four. As far as cost is concerned, it increases
only slightly. IEEE 1394 parallel interface also known as peer-to-
peer model is USB competitor. It has the capability of peripheral to
peripheral communication. A single peripheral data can be
directed to multiple receivers. IEEE 1394b has a speed of 3.2 Gbps
almost six times of USB2.0.It has its use in very high bandwidth
applications like video conferences. Its electronic circuitry is very
complex and hence very expensive. Both the interfaces are likely
to exist in tomorrow’s PC’s as USB is ideal for low/full speed and
few high speed devices while IEEE1394 for large number of high
speed devices.

REFERENCE
www.usb.org
www.quatech.com
www.intel.com/technology/wirelessusb
www.intel.com/technology/usb