AN INTRODUCTION TO SERIAL PORT

INTERFACING

An Introduction to Serial communication

 As the name implies, in the Serial communication you send bits of data
serially i.e. one bit at a time.
 Normally we predefine rate of transfer such as
 2400 bits/sec. (2400bps)
 56,000 bits/sec. (56 kbps)
 And then depending upon this rate we interpret bits boundaries.

Example of Serial Waveform

For example you receive following waveform from serial port of your PC and it
is stated that data rate is 2400bps

Methods of timing used to find bit boundaries

 Synchronous communication

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Asynchronous Communication
 In Asynchronous communication the sender and receiver decide a data
rate before communication. They decide upon signaling used for start &
stop of data transmission.
 Both sender & receiver use a precise timing reference internally to divide
serial received data into bits.
Basics of Serial Communication
 Baud Rate
 The baud rate is simply “the rate of data transmission expressed in bits
per second, kilo Bits per second or Mega bits per second etc”.
 The sender & receiver decide upon no of bits in one data word such as 8
bits (1byte) etc. More over they decide that:
 A first bit before transmission of data word will always be 0 (or 1) after
which data bits will follow. It is called start bit.
 The last bit followed by data bits will always be 1(or 0) after which it
requires start bit for transmission of next word. This bit is called stop bit

Advantage of Start / Stop bits

Some measures for error detection

 Parity
 Is of two types
 1. Even parity
 2. Odd parity
 Suppose your data word is 8 bit in length i.e. one byte.
 The sender, before transmitting byte, determines whether the no of bits in
the byte to be sent are even. Suppose sender’s wants to send
 10011101
 In which there are 5 “ 1’s ” and 3 “ 0’s ”.
 To keep the no. of 1’s even the sender adds an extra bit at the end of byte
so that the total no. of 1’s are 6 (an even no.). This extra bits is called
parity bit. Since this bit keeps the no. of 1’s even, so it is called even
parity.

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Overview of total bits with Parity
Odd Parity
Odd parity is added to keep the
no. of 1’s odd in transmission.
For example for above case of
data being
10011101
The odd parity will be added as 0 as no of 1’s are already 5 (an odd no.).

Failure of Parity
 What if you transmit above byte 10011101 with even parity being used and
on receiver side you receive
 10000101 1
 shows bits inverted during transmission
 On receiver side the no. of 1’s including parity=4 (no error for even parity).
But actually it is false.
 So parity does not ensure error detection in all cases.

EIA RS232C Serial Interface Standard

 A “Space” (logic 0) will be
between 3 and 25 volts.
 A “ Mark” (logic 1) will be
between -3 and -25 volts.
 The region between 3 & -3 volts
is undefined.
 Maximum data rates may be up
to 20 kbps.
 Maximum serial cable length may
be 15 meters.
 The reason to study RS-232C is
that the serial part (Com port)
found in PC’S uses this standard.
 Above are the sufficient points to
start implementation of the serial interfacing on PC.

Introduction of UART & USART

 UART – Stands for Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter
 USART – Stands for Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver
Transmitter
 In RS-232 we implement serial port with UART

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 Actually UART receives/sends data to microprocessor through data bus.
The remaining part of signal handing of RS-232 is done by UART i.e. start
bit, stop bit, parity etc.
Port Address of Serial Part
Name Address IRQ
 COM 1 3F8-3FF 4
 COM 2 2F8-2FF 3
 COM 3 3E8-3EF 4
 COM 4 2E8-3FF 3

Configuration of Serial Port

Base Address DLAB Read/Write Abr. Registered Mar--

+0 0 W - Transmit holding
0 R - buffer
1 R/W - Receive Buffer
Divisor latch low byte
+1 0 R/W IER Interrupt enable
1 R/W register
Divisor latch high byte
+2 - R IIR Interrupt Identification
- W FCR Register
FIFO Control register.
+3 - R/W LCR Line Control Register
+4 - R/W MCR Modem Control
Register
+5 - R LSR Line Status Register
+6 - R MSR Modem Status
Register
+7 - R/W - Scratch Register.

Setting Baud Rate

 Usually the internal clock frequencies of UART=115, 200 Hz.

 Suppose we want to set baud rate to 2400 bps.
 Now we find the quotient.
 115,200/2400=48=0x30
 Taking it as 16 bit no the quotient is =0x00 high byte 0x30low byte
 Now we set a bit DLAB (divisor latch access bit) which is bit 7 of the line
control register (LCR)at base address +3
 Usually the command is
 outportb(0x3f8 +3,inportb (0x3f8+3)|0x80);

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  After setting DLAB bit in LCR, the function of registers at 0x3F8 & 0x3F9
changes as follows

Base Address Normal Function Function When DLAB=1

 Ox3F8 Tx/Rx register Divisor latch Low byte
 Ox3F9 Interrupt enable register Divisor latch high byte.

 For baud rate = 2400bps

 Divisor Latch Low byte = 0x30
 Divisor Latch high byte= 0x00
 Loading these registers with above values configures your serial port for
baud rate of 2400bps.

Specifying Start / Stop Bit & Parity

The functionality of each bit of line control register (LCR) is shown in table below:

Bit # Functional Description

7 1 Divisor Latch Access Bit ( DLAB ON )
0 DLAB=0, Access to Tx/Rx & IER for normal
operation
6 Set Brake Enable
3:5 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Parity Select
x x 0 No Parity
0 0 1 Odd Parity
0 1 1 Even Parity
1 0 1 High Parity ( Sticky )
1 1 1 Low Parity ( Sticky )
2 Length of stop bit
0 One stop bit
1 2 stop bits for words of length 6, 7 or 8 bits
1.5 stop bits for words of length 5 bits

0:1 Bit 1 Bit 0 Word Length

0 0 5 Bits
0 1 6 Bits
1 0 7 Bits
1 1 8 Bits

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The Function of various pins on Serial Port

Pin # on Pin Symbol Function

DB – 9
1 CD Carrier Detect: It is used by Modem to inform PC that it has
detected Carrier on Phone Line.
2 RD Serial data is received on this line by PC.
3 TD Serial Data is transmitted on this pin by PC.
4 DTR Data Terminal Ready
When terminal (computer) powers up it asserts DTR high.
5 SG It is signal ground with reference to which voltages are
interpreted as high or low.
6 DSR Data Set Ready.
When modem powers up it asserts DSR high.
7 RTS Request to Send.
Request to send is sent from (DTE) terminal (PC) to modem
(DCE) to inform it that PC wants to send some data to
modem.
8 CTS Clear To Send.
Upon received RTS from DTE (PC), the modem (DCE)
asserts CTS high whenever it is ready to receive data.
9 RI Ring Indicator.
It is set by modem to indicate the PC that a ringing signal
has been detected on line.

Common way of Handling Flow Control Signals.

PC1 Serial Port PC2 Serial Port

DB 9 Pins DB 9 pins
 3 TD  RD 2
 2 RD  TD 3
 5 SG  SG 5
 4 DTR DTR 4
 6 DSR DSR 6
 1 CD CD 1
 7 RTS RTS 7
 8 CTS CTS 8
 9 Open Ckt. 9

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Modem Control Register (MCR)

Bit Notes
 Bit 7 Reserved
 Bit 6 Reserved
 Bit 5 Autoflow Control Enabled (16750 only)
 Bit 4 LoopBack Mode
 Bit 3 Aux Output 2
 Bit 2 Aux Output 1
 Bit 1 Force Request to Send
 Bit 0 Force Data Terminal Ready

Modem Status Register (MSR)

Bit Notes
 Bit 7 Carrier Detect
 Bit 6 Ring Indicator
 Bit 5 Data Set Ready
 Bit 4 Clear To Send
 Bit 3 Delta Data Carrier Detect
 Bit 2 Trailing Edge Ring Indicator
 Bit 1 Delta Data Set Ready
 Bit 0 Delta Clear to Send

Line Status Register (LSR)

Bit Notes
 Bit 7 Error in Received FIFO
 Bit 6 Empty Data Holding Registers
 Bit 5 Empty Transmitter Holding
Register
 Bit 4 Break Interrupt
 Bit 3 Framing Error
 Bit 2 Parity Error
 Bit 1 Overrun Error
 Bit 0 Data Ready

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Writing a C Program to Send Serial Data to Micro-Controller for Motor Control

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
#define PORT1 0x3F8
void main(void)
{
int c;
outportb(PORT1+1,0);/* Turn off interrupts*/
/* of Port1 to use software testing mode*/
/* Now we set baud rate to 2400 bps */
outportb(PORT1+3,0x80); /* SET DLAB ON */
outportb(PORT1+0,0x30);
/*Divisor Latch Low Byte */
outportb(PORT1 + 1 , 0x00);
/*Divisor Latch High Byte */
outportb(PORT1+3,0x03);
/* 8 Bits, No Parity, 1 Stop Bit */
printf("\n Motor Speed Control Program\n");
printf(" Enter 27 to quit \n");
do {
printf("\n Please enter a number between 0 to 255 except 27 : ");
scanf("%d",&c);
printf("\n");
outportb(PORT1,c);
/* Send the input number to Serial Port */
} while (c !=27);
/* Quit when 27 is entered */
}