Genesys Logic announced a reference design pairing its USB 3.0 card reader controller GL3221 with NFC transceiver ST95HF from STMicroelectronics

September 9, 2014 -- Genesys Logic, Inc., a leading IC design company in mixed-signal, high-speed I/O technologies, today announced a reference design pairing its USB 3.0 card reader controller GL3221 with STMicroelectronics' ST95HF NFC transceiver. This solution provides both high-performance memory card access and near field communication (NFC) simultaneously.

The GL3221 is a USB 3.0 SD card reader controller with an integrated USB 3.0 Super Speed transmitter/receiver physical layer (PHY) that was developed in-house by Genesys Logic. It is compliant with the USB 3.0 on the host side and supports various types of SD memory cards available on the market. It also supports SDXC and Memory Stick XC high-density memory cards (capacity up to 2TB) and SD 3.0 UHS-I memory cards.

The GL3221 integrates a high-efficiency DMA engine for optimized data transfer performance between USB and various memory card interfaces. It supports Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) for easier firmware upgrade. The built-in 5V to 3.3V regulators and power MOSFETs save both cost and area on the PCB.

NFC supports three different operation modes: reader/writer, card emulation, and peer-to-peer. ST’s NFC / RFID transceiver ICs operate on the 13.56 MHz frequency band. They communicate with GL3221 and support ISO 14443A/B, ISO 15693 and NFC protocols. This allows manufacturers to design their own RF reader systems for wireless pairing, data exchange, authentication and identification applications for healthcare, home appliances, and consumer electronics.

Genesys Logic has been a leader in USB 3.0 design and development with multiple USB 3.0 device solutions on the market. What really distinguishes its products from the competitors’ is a robust USB 3.0 PHY that not only reduces manufacturing cost but also shortens the development time it takes for the customers to get their systems to the market.

Genesys Logic participates in Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2014 SF and demonstrates its USB 3.0 family of products in the SuperSpeed USB Community with booth number 779. For more information on Genesys Logic and its products, please visit Genesys Logic’s website http://www.genesyslogic.com .