Primers

Discover the Power of USB-C

USB Power Delivery (USB PD) is a crucial aspect of USB-C technology, allowing for faster charging and increased power delivery capabilities of up to 240 Watts! If you haven't checked out our blog on The USB-C Connection Statemachine, we recommend reading that first. When a USB-C connection is in an attached state, USB PD negotiation occurs between the source and sink devices, allowing for the negotiation of power delivery modes and values.

USB-C Specifications: Getting Started

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become an essential component of modern computing, providing a standard interface for a wide range of devices. The latest iteration of USB technology, USB-C, offers several improvements over the previous generation of USB-A ports, including faster data transfer speeds, increased power delivery capabilities, and a reversible connector. Now being, one connector to rule them all, what happens when you plug in a USB-C cable or device? A key change with USB-C is the advent of a connection state machine.

What is this "Alt Mode" you speak of? 

USB Alternate Modes are a powerful feature of USB-C technology that allows for the transmission of video, audio, and other data formats outside standard USB across a USB-C connector. These alternate modes, such as Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort, are negotiated over the USB Power Delivery standard on the connectors configuration channel (CC line).

 Daisy Chain Acroname USB Hubs

Customers often ask how many Acroname USBHub3+ hubs can be daisy-chained.

The answer is pretty simple: four.

However, getting there requires some understanding of the USB specification and the internal topology of Acroname hubs. Also, by following our suggested configuration, customers can maximize access to one of the most useful features of Acroname products: fully programmable USB ports.

Adding more than two USBHub3+ hubs

Some customers who have been using multiple Acroname USBHub3+ hubs have shared with us that they cannot add more than two USBHub3+ hubs to their system or that they need more USB resources. As it happens, this is not a limitation of USBHub3+ itself, but rather a limitation of the host USB controller and the host machine's implementation of the USB controller.

One common task in designing and building automation systems is logic circuitry interfacing to high power loads.  Read article.  

An example of converting the non-linear voltage output of a Sharp analog infrared range finder into a usable distance measurement using only integer math.  Read article.

An article describing the use of voltage generated by a spinning motor to conclude the speed of the motor's rotation. Read Article.

PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) refers to the concept of rapidly pulsing a digital signal on a wire. Amongst many other uses, it can be used to simulate a varying static voltage. PWM is commonly used for driving motors, heaters, LEDs or lights in varying intensities or speeds.  Read Article

high power loads using low-level voltage signals

A common automation system requirement is to drive or actuate high power loads using low-level voltage signals.