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Summary of expansion schemes

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Summary of expansion schemes

The following table summarizes the attributes of the different SPLat expansion schemes. Please note that this is a guide only, not hard and fast rules.

 

Xwire

(2007)

Touch of SPice

      

Onboard SPx, UV-SPice, Virtual SPx

TSP Discontinued

Simple SPice
Suitable for Networking multiple controllers and dedicated peripheral boards Smart I/O and communication functions A few digital or analog I/Os Bulk I/O or simple peripherals Bulk, dumb digital I/O expansion Intelligent peripherals High-level onboard functionality
Based on Half duplex serial data. Master/slave system Spare processor I/O pins brought out to a connector.   SPI interface, SPx programming SPx programming model but without SPx hardware
Number and type of I/Os Practically unlimited Limited by board size. Can be complex Depends entirely on the controller board   Open-ended (none for Virtual SPx)
Programming Simple configuration, then simply exchanges data automatically in background Special TSP communication instructions Appear as simple I/O points. Same as basic SPLat programming Simple instruction to block transfer 1-20 bytes Automatic configuration. Appears like normal onboard I/O Register/command based programming model. The peripheral can provide high level functionality but usually requires a sophisticated programmer.
Number of possible add-ons Depends on cabling length 1 1 Usually only 1 Several, depending on the details Determined by custom board specification
Mechanical Separate boards, simple wiring. Plugs onto a standard board. Can also be designed to work on the end of an extension cable    
Power supply Usually requires power supply to its own specs Usually from host SPLat board Usually requires power supply to its own specs

Notes:

  1. TSP and Xwire are implemented only on selected standard and custom controllers. Please refer to individual product documentation.