Universal flash storage

Universal Flash Storage (UFS) is a standard format for flash - memory cards and flash memory devices in embedded systems . The aim is to achieve faster data access and an end to the format war among memory card manufacturers. The standardization should reduce the need for adapters and achieve compatibility among as many devices as possible, such as computers , digital cameras , cell phones , MP3 players and others. The Linux kernel also supports UFS.

The development is led by the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association . The companies Nokia , Micron Technology , Samsung , Sony Ericsson , Spansion , STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments are involved .

The standardization by the JEDEC company association takes place in cooperation with the partly competing MIPI Alliance (Mobile Industry Processor Interface Alliance), which develops and propagates the data exchange between chipsets, sensors and displays and further develops the UniPro protocol for this purpose. The area of application includes mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops as well as embedded systems such as televisions and the connected car .

Development history

The first standard version appeared in 2011, which was upgraded to version 1.1 in 2012. The UFS was used more widely with the introduction of version 2.0 in September 2013. Here, the power consumption of 0.5 mW in standby and 1 mW in use is similar to that of eMMC storage. The data transfer rate compared to the eMMC standard is tripled in the fifth version. This enables simultaneous reading and writing. Serial data transfer takes place on the part of the UFS host controller. UFS 2.0 storage is used in smartphones, among other things. The updated version 2.1 was published in March 2016. Among other things, this improved data security between the UFS memory and the SoC .

Version 1.0 of the standard for UFS memory cards was passed on March 30, 2016. According to this, a UFS card has two fin-like notches on the long side. This results in a format of 15 × 11 mm for a memory card. Without a notch, the result is 15 × 10.2 mm. According to the UFSC standard, these cards must achieve at least a data transfer rate of the UFS Gear1 class, which corresponds to 183 MB / s. The maximum transfer rate in the Gear3 class is 729 MB / s, about five times the maximum of the minimum standard. Compared to microSDHC memory cards, the higher number of memory contacts is noticeable. The first UFS memory card was presented by the manufacturer Samsung in July 2016.

Version comparison

UFS

UFS version	1.0	1.1	2.0	2.1	3.0	3.1
introduction	2011	2012	2013	2016	2018	2020
Data transmission speed per transmission line	300 MB / s		600 MB / s		1450 MB / s
Max. Number of transmission lines	1		2
Max. Total data transfer speed	300 MB / s		1200 MB / s		2900 MB / s
M-PHY version			3.0		4.1
UniPro protocol version			1.6		1.8

UFS memory cards

UFS memory card version	1.0	1.1	2.0
introduction	2016	2018
Data transmission speed per transmission line	600 MB / s		1200 MB / s
Max. Number of transmission lines	1
Max. Total data transfer speed	600 MB / s		1200 MB / s
M-PHY version	3.0
UniPro protocol version	1.6