MicroSD Express Memory Cards to Enable Fast 2GB/s Data Transfers

SD Association (SDA) has announced the new SD 9.1 specification that doubles the speed of microSD Express memory card speed up to 2GB/s, defines four new SD Express Speed Classes to ensure guaranteed minimum sequential performance levels, and adds support for multi-stream access and related power and thermal management to assure the guaranteed performance.

The new SD 9.1 specification doubles the speed of microSD Express cards, with a maximum speed of 1,969 MB/s achievable over a PCIe Gen4 x1 interface. The cards remain backward compatible with the existing microSD card standard at the lower UHS speeds. The specification also introduces four SD Express classes with minimum guaranteed speeds.

Three new features have been defined in the SD 9.1 specification: power management through maximum power values, thermal management with specific thresholds, and an access rule for multi-stream recording.

While several companies have announced microSD and SD Express cards, they are not yet commercially available. It remains to be seen whether these types of SD cards will be widely adopted.

The press release and white paper provide additional details about the new features added to the SD 9.1 specification.

Source: CNX Software – Embedded Systems News.