Aardvark i2c

What is aardvark i2c? The Aardvark is a fast and powerful I2C bus and SPI bus host adapter that operates via USB. It enables developers to interface with Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X PC via USB to a downstream embedded system environment and transfer serial messages using the I2C and SPI protocols. To learn more, you are more than welcome contacting Pertech Embedded solutions.

Aardvark i2c – How does it work?

It used to be that when a microcontroller linked together multiple devices, the data lines and address of each device were individually connected. This obviously took up much pin space, many PCB traces, and greater component requirements to tie all the data together. The result? High expenses and high interference susceptibility.

Enter the Inter-IC (I2C )bus in the 1980s.

This made these systems expensive to produce and susceptible to interference and noise. I2C is the protocol used for on board communications over the serial data (SDA) and serial clock (SCL) wires. It is short distance, a low-bandwidth.

As communication occurs exclusively through these two wires, and these two wires only, a unique address is required to identify the connected device. The lower bits of the predefined address of slave devices, can be reassigned to enable multiples such devices.

The protocol the I2C operates under is a simple master-slave protocol:

Start condition issuance by master device.
Read/write flag on relevant slave address.
Acknowledgment signal response from matching slave address.
Data transmission (8 bites)/ receival (1 bite) between slave/master (either can be transmitter/receiver).
Master stop condition issuance.

The processes of Inter-IC (I2C )bus

The team of experience experts at Pertech Embedded solutions will gladly assist you in every step of the way. To find out more about aardvark i2c, contact us today.

More information

Host adapter

Host adapter or host bus adapter (HBA) connect the host system (such as a server) to other devices within or without the system, including hard drives, solid state drives, ethernet, firefire, etc. It allows the host system and the connected device to communicate with one another. Not all HBAs can support all types of devices. Most are specific to only given types. Either way, to learn more you are more than welcome contacting Pertech Embedded solutions.

Host adapter – usage and more relevant information

The HBA will be installed on the PCI slot on the host system motherboard. It will then be connected with compatible cables to storage devices that are either internal (HDD or SSD within the system) or external (storage enclosures). It will then be in the middle of the input/output path transmitting and receiving data from the host system to the storage device and back, assuming the role of storing and retrieving data otherwise performed by the host system's microprocessor.

We should note that HBAs are primarily used to network hundreds, even thousands of data storage devices to the hosts, enabling cost effective backup solutions or high performance SSD environments.

Contacting the team of experts

Are you interested in embedded software components? The team of experts at Pertech Embedded solutions will gladly help you.

Usages of a host adapter

HBAs are used in workstations, data centers, servers, gaming, security and surveillance as well as a variety of other functions. In fact, they are used whenever RAID protection is not required as surety against drive failure (or when the device one is connecting to provides its own RAID).

By the same measure, you should not use an HBA when you require added RAID protection against drive failure. Under these circumstances, a RAID adapter is preferable. An HBA is also unnecessary in systems running standard software such as Windows or Linux.