
Industrial grade SD cards offer 100x data retention boost
Swissbit (Bronschhofen, Switzerland) has introduced memory cards constructed to deliver performance for highly demanding applications while maintaining high reliability and robustness. By combining SLC (single-level-cell) flash components with a custom system architecture and intelligent firmware, Swissbit says it has been able to produce high reliability industrial SD memory card solutions.
S-450/S-450u cards comply with UHS-I bus mode, speed class 10 and offer a sequential data rate up to 90 MB/sec for reads and 75 MB/sec for writes. In order to offer a maintenance-free product with lowest total cost of ownership for high end applications, no compromise has been made on robustness, data retention or reliability. The use of Swissbit’s intelligent algorithms enable the memory cards to deliver up to one hundred times longer data retention than conventional SD memory cards. The cards are optimised for the most challenging SD applications where a high percentage of write operations occur and where data retention at maximum program-erase (PE) cycles are required. These cards are designed for boot code execution, data logging, and transaction packet storage.
S-450 (SD) and S-450u (Micro SD) memory cards are equipped with intelligent read disturb management (RDM) alongside an autonomous, performance-neutral background “auto refresh” process. This data care management improves data reliability beyond the already high levels achieved by SLC. The combination of fast flash devices and powerful controller allows these complex management tasks to be achieved efficiently. This keeps system utilisation under all conditions well below the specified limit, allowing a high sustained IOP rate and guaranteeing compatibility with a wide range of industrial and networking applications.
Diagnostic functions offering highly detailed status information plus standalone data maintenance guarantee data retention for many years, even in especially rough environmental conditions and extreme temperatures. S-450 and S-450u memory cards prevent read disturb bit errors even in intensive read applications. The controller offers what Swissbit believes to be the best ECC (error correction code) available. Power fail safety is achieved by transaction log based firmware and has been verified in the Swissbit product qualification process utilising fully asynchronous power down cycles. Firmware upgrades can be performed both in the factory and in the field.
S-450 SD memory cards from 4 to 32GB are available now. The Micro SD form factor and low densities will follow in the coming months. Depending on the project size, Swissbit is also able to provide customer-specific modifications.
Swissbit: www.swissbit.com
