Axiomtek AX92321 Four and Eight Port USB 3.0 PCI Express Cards With Independent Host Controllers

Vision and factory automation systems often connect several USB 3.0 cameras and devices to one PC, and a single shared controller becomes a bottleneck. The Axiomtek AX92321 series is a family of USB 3.0 PCI Express cards built around four independent host controllers, in four-port and eight-port versions. Axiomtek positions the cards for vision and factory automation in harsh environments, and we specify them for the systems we build and supply.

Both cards use four Renesas uPD720202 host controllers, compliant with the USB 3.0 specification and Intel xHCI revision 1.0, on a PCI Express x4 Gen2 interface. Ports run at SuperSpeed (5 Gbps), high speed (480 Mbps), full speed (12 Mbps) and low speed (1.5 Mbps). A jumper sets each port’s maximum current to 900 mA or 1500 mA for bus-powered devices, and software switches each port’s power on or off, which helps when a device needs a remote reset without opening the system or unplugging a cable.

The variants differ in port count. The AX92321-4U has four Type A ports with one controller per port, and Axiomtek states up to 5 Gbps per port even when all four run at the same time. The AX92321-8U has eight Type A ports on the same four controllers, for systems that need more connections from one slot; Axiomtek does not quote a concurrent per-port rate for this build, so we plan bandwidth with you when several high-rate devices share it. Both cards share the same board size, controllers, drivers and power options, so a design can move from one to the other without software changes. The choice comes down to how many devices connect and how much bandwidth each needs at the same time.

Power comes from the PCIe slot, with up to 20 W of total USB power output, from the 6-pin ATX connector (5 A at 12 V or 2.5 A at 24 V) or from the 4-pin Molex connector (5 A at 12 V). The cards operate from 0 to +70 °C and store from -20 to +80 °C, at 10 to 95% humidity, non-condensing. Each board measures 168 x 107 mm and carries CE compliance, with Windows 7/10 (32/64-bit) and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS support. Axiomtek names vision and factory automation applications. Axiomtek also offers a power cable for the riser card in its IPC962 and IPC964 systems.