Future Technology Devices International Limited (FTDI) announced the availability of its USB-RS232-WE cable that provides interfacing of USB to RS232-based devices. The 1.8m cable has a small PCB encapsulated into the USB connector that contains an FTDI FT232R serial UART IC interface plus a RS232 level shifter to provide true RS232 voltage levels. The integrated electronics also include Tx and Rx LEDs giving a visual indication of traffic on the cable via the transparent USB connector. The RS232 signal end of the cable comes with tinned wire connections as standard. The cable can be customised on request by adding a user defined connectors as required. The electronics within the cable are USB powered and fully USB 2.0 full speed compliant. Data transfer rates up to 1 Mbaud are supported.

Each cable supports the FTDI-Chip-ID feature by having a unique USB serial number programmed into the FT232R device. Using this feature, designers can incorporate security or password protected file transfer. The USB-RS232 cable requires a USB driver. These are available free of charge at www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm. Using these drivers the cable can be made to appear as a virtual COM port (VCP). In this way, the user can communicate with the USB interface via a standard PC serial emulation port (TTY). Another FTDI USB driver, D2XX, allows a users application software to directly access the FT232R IC on the cable through a DLL.