NAGARJUNA COLLEGE OF

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

TECHNICAL SEMINAR
ON
“THUNDERBOLT – AN INCREDIBLY FAST I/O
TECHNOLOGY”
 BRIEF VIEW
 Thunderbolt
 Key Features Of Thunderbolt
 General Specifications
 Connector Pin Diagram
 Advantage of choosing fibre cable copper cable
 Protocol in Thunderbolt
 Protocol Architecture
 Controller Architecture
 Thunderbolt technology and possibilites
 Thunderbolt vs. other existing I/O interfaces
 Thunderbolt 2
 Future-Thunderbolt 3
 Conclusion
THUNDERBOLT

Thunderbolt Technology is a
transformational high speed, dual core
I/O protocol which provides excellent
performance over current I/O
technologies which are available in the
market with 10Gbps bi-directional With this Thunderbolt
transfer speed. technology it is now
possible to enable the
It provides flexibility and simplicity by
thinnest and lightest laptops
supporting both data and video on a
single cable connection that can daisy- can connected over a single
chain up to six devices cable to high performance
storage, external media
drives, multiple HD
displays, HD media.
KEY FEATURES
• 10Gbps bi-directional, dual channel data
transfer
• Data & Video on single cable with Dual-
protocol (PCI Express and DisplayPort)
• Daisy chain up to six devices
• Compatible with existing DisplayPort devices
• Uses native PCIe and DisplayPort protocol
software drivers
• Power over cable for bus-powered devices
(electrical cables only)
GENERAL SPECIFICATION
Parameters Specific values
Width 7.4 mm male (8.3 mm female)
Height 4.5 mm male (5.4 mm female)
Hot Pluggable Yes
Daisy Chain Yes, up to 6 devices
Max Voltage 18V (bus power)

Pins 20
Max Current 550mA (9.9 W max)

Bit Rate 10 Gbps per channel (20 Gbps

in total)
CONNECTOR PIN DIAGRAM
PIN NO. SIGNAL FUNCTION
PIN 1 GND Ground
PIN 2 HPD Hot plug detect
PIN 3 HS0TX(P) High speed transmitter 0

PIN 4 HSORX(P) High speed receiver 0

PIN 5 HS0TX(N) High speed transmitter 0

PIN 6 HS0RX(N) High speed receiver 0

PIN 7 GND Ground
PIN 8 GND Ground
PIN 9 LSR2P TX Low speed transmit
PIN 10 GND Reserved
PIN 11 LSR2P RX Low speed receiver
PIN 12 GND Reserved
PIN 13 GND Ground
PIN 14 GND Ground
PIN 15 HS1TX(P) High speed transmitter 1

PIN 16 HS1TX(P) High speed receiver 1

PIN 17 HS1TX(P) High speed transmitter 1

PIN 18 HS1TX(P) High speed receiver1

PIN 19 Ground Ground
ADVANTAGES OF CHOOSING FIBER OVER
COPPER CABLE
1. Greater bandwidth:- Fiber provides more bandwidth than
copper. More bandwidth means fiber can carry more
information with greater fidelity than copper wire.
2. Speed and distance:- Because the fiber optic signal is made
of light, very little signal loss occurs during transmission,
and data can move at higher speeds and greater distances.
3. Security:- It doesn’t radiate signals and is extremely
difficult to tap. If the cable is tapped, it’s very easy to
monitor because the cable leaks light, causing the entire
system to fail.
4. Cost:- The cost for fiber cable, components, and hardware
has steadily decreased. Overall, fiber cable is more
expensive than copper cable in the short run, but it may be
less expensive in the long run.
 PROTOCOL IN THUNDERBOLT
Each Thunderbolt port on a computer is capable of
providing the full bandwidth of the link in both the
direction.

A Thunderbolt connector is capable of providing two full

duplex
The mainchannels.
focus of Thunderbolt
comes on two layers, Physical
layer and Transport layer.

8
PROTOCOL ARCHITECTURE
Physical layer is responsible for link maintenance
including hot-plug detection, and data encoding to
provide highly efficient data transfer

The heart of the Thunderbolt protocol architecture is the

Transport layer.
 CONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE

A Thunderbolt controller contains:

• A high-performance, cross-bar Thunderbolt protocol switch

• One or more Thunderbolt ports
• One or more DisplayPort protocol adapter ports
• A PCI Express switch with one or more PCI Express protocol
adapter port

DisplayPort and PCI Express protocols are

mapped onto the transport layer.
CONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE CONTINUE
 THUNDERBOLT TECHNOLOGIES AND
POSIBILITES
• No project is too massive.
If you’re a video editor, imagine using a single port to connect
high-performance storage, a high-resolution display, and high-
bit-rate video capture devices to handle all the post-production
for a feature film.
• Changing the PC industry.
Thunderbolt technology also enables the introduction of
thinner and lighter laptops without sacrificing I/O performance,
and extends to reach other I/O technologies by using PCIe-
based adapters
• Performance and expansion made faster and smarter.
Thunderbolt I/O technology gives you two channels on the
same connector with 10 Gbps of throughput in both directions.
That makes Thunderbolt ultrafast and ultra flexible.
THUNDERBOLT VS EXISTING I/O INTERFACE
 THUNDERBOLT 2
In June 2013, Intel announced that the next generation of
Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt 2 is an update to the original
thunderbolt, based on the codenamed "Falcon Ridge" is officially
named "Thunderbolt 2”.
 Intel claims Thunderbolt 2 will be able to
transfer a 4K video while simultaneously
displaying it on a discrete monitor.

 At the physical level, the bandwidth of

Thunderbolt 1 and Thunderbolt 2 are identical,
and Thunderbolt 1 cabling is thus compatible
with Thunderbolt 2 interfaces. At the logical
level, Thunderbolt 2 enables channel
aggregation, whereby the two previously
separate 10 Gbit/s channels can be combined
into a single logical 20 Gbit/s channel.
THUNDERBOLT 3
Thunderbolt 3 is computer port delivering two 4K displays, fast
data, and quick notebook charging, said, vice president of Intel
Corporation.

Technology Features
• 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 – double the speed of Thunderbolt 2
• Bi-directional, dual-protocol (PCI Express and Display Port)
• 4 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3
• 8 lanes of Display Port 1.2 (HBR2 and MST)
• Supports two 4K displays (4096 x 2160 30bpp @ 60 Hz)
• USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) – compatible with existing USB devices and
cables
• Daisy chaining (up to six devices)
CONCLUSION

Thunderbolt technology brings a new balance of

performance, simplicity and flexibility to end users
and product designers alike

Due to cost factor, it is out of reach for an average

product for now, USB still more popular which
practically free

At present it is running at electrical standard but it

will be at optical standard in long run
 REFERENCES:
[1] “Thunderbolt Technology brief”, www.thunderbolttechnology.net, 2012
[2] Apple-India, “Thunderbolt next generation high speed technology”, Apple
website,2011
[3] Andrew Ku,” everything you need to know about thunderbolt” Tom’s
hardware, 2013
[4] Intel, ”Thunderbolt Ready-upgrade program for PC, Motherboard, workstation
computers”, Benchmark review.com, 16 Nov 2013.
[5] James Gilbraith, “Promise preps for MAC Pro with Thunderbolt 2”
macworld.com, 16 Sep 2013
[6] Thunderbolt (interface), Wikipedia, Retrieved Nov 18, 2013
[7] Jason Ziller, “Thunderbolt Technology update” Intel, 8 April, 2013
[8] Gordon Mah Ung, “Thunderbolt vs. USB 3.0 “maximumpc.com, 29 Jan 2013
THANK YOU

BY:- AMIT KUMAR SINHA

(1NC11EC016)