EEE 410 – Microprocessors I

Spring 04/05 – Lecture Notes # 19

Outline of the Lecture
• Interfacing the Serial Port
• Basics of Serial Communication
• Asynchronous Data Communication and Data Framing
• RS232 and other Serial I/O Standards

BASICS OF SERIAL COMMUNICATION

¾ Computers transfer data in two ways: parallel and serial.

• Parallel communication is fast and efficient. In parallel communication 8 or more

lines (wire conductors) are used to transfer data to a device that only a few feet
away. (e.g. printers, hard disks etc.)
• Parallel communication provides much faster transfer of data with compared to
serial communication.
• However for long distances the number of wires required as well as the
distortion on the signals in parallel wires makes parallel communication for long
distances not reliable. Also the synchronization of the parallel signals is a big
problem.
• Serial communication sends 1 bit at a time, so it is slower with compared to
parallel communication.
• For long distances serial communication provides robust way of data transfer.
Because there is no problem of synchronization.
• Serial communication requires less number of wires for communication. Serial
communication is used in modems, keyboards etc.

Serial Data Transfer Parallel Transfer

D0

Sender Receiver
Sender Receiver

D7

Serial versus Parallel Data transfer.

Asynchronous /Synchronous Methods

¾ Serial data communication uses two methods: asynchronous and synchronous.

• Synchronous communication requires common timing signals and common
clock for synchronization. This means that as well as the data, the clock signals
must also be transmitted along. In synchronous method a block of data at a time
is transmitted.
• In asynchronous method a single byte is transferred at a time. For example,
start and stop bits are used to indicate the receipt of a byte.

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Serial Data Communication Systems

• Simplex Transmission: Transmission of data is only possible in one direction

(e.g. output only-printers)
• Half Duplex Transmission: Transmission of data is possible in both directions,
but in one direction at a time.
• Full Duplex Transmission: Transmission of data can be in both directions at a
time. Requires to wires as data lines.

Transmitter Receiver
Simplex

Transmitter Receiver

Half Duplex
Receiver Transmitter

Transmitter Receiver
Full Duplex
Receiver Transmitter

Simplex, Half and Full Duplex Transfers

UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter) Chip

UART chips are used for serial communication. The 8250 series, which includes the
16450, 16550, 16650, & 16750 UARTS, are the most commonly used.

• Asynchronous serial communication and data framing

¾ The data coming in the receiving end of the data line in a serial data transfer is all 1s
and 0s; it is difficult to make sense of data unless the sender and receiver agree on a
set of rules, a protocol on how the data is packed, how many bits constitute a
character, and when the data begins and ends.

Start and Stop bits

¾ Asynchronous serial data communication is widely used for character-oriented
transmission, and block-oriented data transfers use the Synchronous method.

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 ¾ In the Asynchronous method, each character is put between a start and stop bits. This
is called framing. In data framing, for asynchronous communications, the data such as
ASCII characters are packed in between a start bit and stop bit.
¾ The start bit is always one bit, but the stop bit(s) can be one or two bits. The start bit
is always a 0 (low) and the stop bit(s) is 1 (high)
¾ The example below gives the framing of the ASCII character “A”, where, binary
0100 0001, is framed in between the start bit and two stop bits. Notice that the LSB is
sent out first.

Framing of ASCII “A” (41H)

¾ Notice that the transmission begins with a start bit followed by D0, the LSB, then the
rest of the bits until the MSB (D7), and finally, the 2 stop bits indicating the end of
character “A”.
¾ In asynchronous serial communication, peripheral chips and modems can be
programmed for data that is 5, 6, 7 or 8 bits wide.
¾ In some systems in order to maintain the data integrity, the parity bit of the
character byte is included in the data frame.

Data Transfer Rate (Baud Rate)

¾ The rate of data transfer in serial communication is stated in bps (bits per second).
Another widely used terminology for bps is the baud rate.
¾ Typical bps values are: 2,400, 4,800, 9,600, 19,200, 28,800,… etc.

• RS232 and other Serial I/O Standards

¾ RS232 is the most widely used serial I/O interfacing standard.
¾ However the I/O voltage levels are not TTL compatible. In the RS232 a 1 is
represented by –3 to –25 V, while 0 bit is +3 to +25 V, making –3 to +3 undefined.
¾ For this reason voltage converter such as MC1488 and MC1489 are used to
convert the TTL logic levels to the RS232 voltage levels and vice versa. See Figure
below.

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RS232 Pins
¾ Serial Ports come in two "sizes". There are the D-Type 25 pin connector and the D-
Type 9 pin connector both of which are male on the back of the PC, thus you will
require a female connector on your device. Below is a table of pin connections for
the 9 pin and 25 pin D-Type connectors.

D-Type 25 pin D-Type 9-pin

Serial Port Pinouts (D25 and D9 Connectors)

D-Type-25 Pin D-Type-9 Pin

Abbreviation Full Name
No. No.
Pin 2 Pin 3 TD / TxD Transmit Data
Pin 3 Pin 2 RD / (RxD) Receive Data
Pin 4 Pin 7 RTS Request To Send
Pin 5 Pin 8 CTS Clear To Send
Pin 6 Pin 6 DSR Data Set Ready
Pin 7 Pin 5 SG / (GND) Signal Ground
Pin 8 Pin 1 CD / (DCD) Data Carrier Detect
Data Terminal
Pin 20 Pin 4 DTR
Ready
Pin 22 Pin 9 RI Ring Indicator
Table 1 : D Type 9 Pin and D Type 25 Pin Connectors

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 Pin Functions

Abbreviation Full Name Function

TD Transmit
Serial Data Output (TXD)
Data
RD Receive Data Serial Data Input (RXD)
CTS Clear to Send This line indicates that the Modem is ready to
exchange data.
DCD Data Carrier When the modem detects a "Carrier" from the
Detect modem at the other end of the phone line, this Line
becomes active.
DSR Data Set This tells the UART that the modem is ready to
Ready establish a link.
DTR Data
This is the opposite to DSR. This tells the Modem
Terminal
that the UART is ready to link.
Ready
RTS Request To This line informs the Modem that the UART is ready
Send to exchange data.
RI Ring Indicator Goes active when modem detects a ringing signal.

Data Communication Classification:

¾ Devices which use serial cables for their communication are split into two
categories. These are DCE (Data Communications Equipment) and DTE (Data
Terminal Equipment.)
¾ DTE refers to terminals and computers that send and receive data; DCE refers to
communication equipment such as modems that are responsible for transferring
data.