When it arrived, USB Type-C brought goodies for the tech world in the form of a reversible connector that allows people to connect peripherals to their machines without looking at the port.
Now, with the upcoming release of USB 3.2 specification by the USB 3.0 Promoter Group, the capabilities of the Type-C connectors have become greater than before.
In their announcement, the Group called USB 3.2 specification “an incremental update that defines multi-lane operation for new USB 3.2 hosts and devices.”
The update will provide almost double bandwidth, in comparison to USB 3.1, via two-lane operation over the existing Type-C cables. Although being used for single-lane operation as of now, the Group said that the Type-C already have support for the multi-lane operation.
“New USB 3.2 hosts and devices can now be designed as multi-lane solutions, allowing for up to two lanes of 5 Gbps or two lanes of 10 Gbps operation,” the Group said.
What does the double bandwidth mean? A Type-C cable certified for SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps would be able to deliver a transfer speed of 2GB per second (around 16Gbps) when data exchange occurs between a USB 3.2 host and USB 3.2 storage device.
For a reference, USB 3.1 specification, released in 2013, supports a maximum bandwidth of 10Gbps. However, in the case of USB 3.2, the theoretical bandwidth cap would max out at 20Gbps.
Just like every USB version, USB 3.2 interface will be backward compatible with previous generations. The existing SuperSpeed USB physical layer data rates and encoding techniques will also go along with the new USB specification.
Changes have been made the hub specification to streamline the transitioning process between single-lane and multi-lane operation when different types of devices are connected to a hub.
USB 3.0 Promoter Group has put the final draft of the specification for review. The Group will release the final USB 3.2 specification at the USB Developer Days 2017 event in September this year.
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