The best way to USB

UMS2 is an USB->Serial interface module based on the powerful FT232BL chip made by FTDI. It enables very easy connection of the user's application to the PC via the USB port, without necessity of any deep knowledge about the complicated USB problematics.

On the USB side of UMS2 there are 2 signals D+ and D-, on the opposite side there are the serial port signals (in the TTL level) with full data flow control. UMS2 is capable to transfer data at speeds up to 1 MBaud in RS232 mode and up to 3 MBaud in the RS485 mode. UMS2 contains the on-board serial EEPROM (93LC56) for storing the ID data (VID, PID, ID string).

UMS2 is manufactured as a DIP28 device with standard pin distance of 2.54 mm (0.1"). It can be put into standard or precision DIP socket or it can be directly soldered to user application PCB. It saves time and money in small series production.

The USB connector is to be connected separately, the designer has flexibility in the PCB layout and mechanical design in comparison to modules with built-in USB connector. Also, the A-type, B-type connector or even cable can be used.

New 'B' series USB interface chips by FTDI have many new features compared to original 'A' series. One the most interesting is a Bit-Bang mode which allows the devices (and consequently also UMS2 module) to be used for FPGA configuration or microcontroller firmware upgrade.

Another feature is 5 V / 3 V interface capability.

Great advantage of FTDI based USB solution is that the drivers are freely available on the Internet. The supported operating systems are Windows 98SE/ME/2K/XP, Mac and Linux. The software examples for Borland Delphi and C++ Builder and Microsoft Visual C++ and Visual Basic are available, too. There are two types of drivers - Virtual COM port (emulates the standard COM port, the accessibility is via standard COM functions) and direct drivers with functions such as FT_Open, FT_Close, FT_ResetDevice, FT_Write, FT_Read, FT_GetStatus, FT_SetBaudRate, FT_SetFlowControl, FT_SetDTR, FT_ClrDTR, ...

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Supported devices

• Any microcontroller with UART interface, e.g. PIC16F62x, PIC16F87x, PIC16F7x
• Any programmable logic device capable of implementing asynchronous serial communication function

Features

• Based on FTDI chip FT232BL
• DIP28, standard pin size
• Ideal solution for development and small series production
• Low cost
• Free drivers: Windows 98SE/ME/2K/XP, Mac and Linux
• Free software examples with source code downloadable from Internet
• RoHS compliant

Contents

• UMS2 module

Download

• UMS2 User's Manual (PDF, 155 kB)
• Latest drivers and application examples are available on the FTDI website.