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Posted by Yash on Sep 3, 2013 in Atmel AVR, Getting Started, Microcontrollers
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This post will cover the basics of serial communication and will be mostly a
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What is Communication?
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Serial Communication

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Parallel CommunicationJoin our newsletter today for free. Enter your email address Subscribe
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Serial vs Parallel Communication
Major Factors Limiting Parallel Communication
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Advantages of Serial over Parallel
How is Data sent Serially?
Serial Transmission Modes
Asynchronous Data Transfer
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Synchronous Data Transfer
Serial Communication Terminologies MaxEmbe…
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Importance of Baud Rate
The Catch in Serial Communication
UART and USART
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Serial Communication Protocols

What is Communication? Sponsored Links

Before we move on to serial communication, lets discuss a bit about

communication in general. In simple terms, communication is an exchange
of ideas between two individuals. Ideas can be anything and in any form –
they could be written/spoken words, in form of media like audio/video, or if
you like sci- , then it can also in form of telepathy! ;)

But what does communication between two microcontrollers mean? Its

simple! An exchange of data (bits)! There are many protocols for
communication (which would be discussed later) but all of them are based
on either serial communication or parallel communication.

Why do we need Communication?

Lets take an example. As kids, we all must have played with those remote
controlled toy cars and airplanes. It was pretty fun and fascinating at that
time. I am sure that most of us at that time didn’t try to gure out how it was
possible! How could the remote control device in your hand control the car
or the aeroplane? Well, of course, the device in your hand sends some data,
which is received by the car/aeroplane. There is a microcontroller onboard
the toy, which interprets the signals and acts accordingly. Correct! So far so
good, but now it doesn’t end here. As grown ups, there are a few more
questions which should arise! Like how does the device send the signal?
From where is the signal being sent? What is actually being sent? Who
receives it? How is it processed?

Lets take another example. This one’s a more common example. You have a
le in your mobile and you would like to share it with your friend who is
sitting next to you? How would you do it – Bluetooth, IR, NFC, LAN or email?
Mostly people would use Bluetooth. IR is obsolete, NFC is still in
developmental phase and isn’t available in most devices, LAN needs a
WiFi/LAN network whereas email requires an active Internet connection.
The same questions can be put forth here as well – how is it send, from
where is it sent and to where, what is being sent and how is it processed?!

Well, this is why communication is required! And to answer all those

questions, several communication protocols have been developed! Now lets
discuss a little about serial and parallel communication.

Serial Communication

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Serial Transfer

In Telecommunication and Computer Science, serial communication is the

process of sending/receiving data in one bit at a time. It is like you are ring
bullets from a machine gun to a target… that’s one bullet at a time! ;)

Parallel Communication

Parallel Transfer

Parallel communication is the process of sending/receiving multiple data

bits at a time through parallel channels. It is like you are ring using a
shotgun to a target – where multiple bullets are red from the same gun at a
time! ;)

Serial vs Parallel Communication

Now lets have a quick look at the di erences between the two types of
communications.

Serial Communication Parallel Communication

1. One data bit is transceived at a 1. Multiple data bits are
time transceived at a time
2. Slower 2. Faster
3. Less number of cables required 3. Higher number of cables
to transmit data required

Serial vs Parallel

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So these were the Joinbasic di erences

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parallel communication is far better than serial communication. But wait,
these are just the basic di erences. Before we proceed further, we need to
be acquainted with a few terminologies:

1. Bit Rate: It is the number of bits that are transmitted (sent/received)

per unit time.
2. Clock Skew: In a parallel circuit, clock skew is the time di erence in the
arrival of two sequentially adjacent registers.  To explain it further, let us
take the machine gun example again. When, say around 5 people are
ring at the same time, there is bound to be a time di erence in the
arrival of the bullet from the rst shooter and that from the second
shooter and so on. This time di erence is what we call clock skew. This is
better illustrated in the picture below: There is a time lag in the data bits
through di erent channels of the same bus. Clock skew is inevitable due
to di erences in physical conditions of the channels, like temperature,
resistance, path length, etc
3. Crosstalk: Phenomenon by which a signal transmitted on one channel
of a  transmission bus creates an undesired e ect in another
channel. Undesired capacitive, inductive, or conductive coupling is usually
what is called crosstalk, from one  circuit, part of a circuit, or  channel, to
another. It can be seen from the following diagram that clock skew and
crosstalk are inevitable.

Major Factors Limiting Parallel Communication

Before the development of high-speed serial technologies, the choice of
parallel links over serial links was driven by these factors:

1. Speed: Super cially, the speed of a parallel link is equal to bit

rate*number of channels. In practice,  clock skew  reduces the speed of
every link to the slowest of all of the links.
2. Cable length: Crosstalk creates interference between the parallel lines,
and the e ect only magni es with the length of the communication link.
This limits the length of the communication cable that can be used.

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Advantages of Serial over Parallel

Although a serial link may seem inferior to a parallel one, since it can
transmit less data per clock cycle, it is often the case that serial links can be
clocked considerably faster than parallel links in order to achieve a higher
data rate. A number of factors allow serial to be clocked at a higher rate:

Clock skew  between di erent channels is not an issue (for un-

clocked asynchronous serial communication links).
A serial connection requires fewer interconnecting cables (e.g.
wires/ bers) and hence occupies less space. The extra space allows for
better isolation of the channel from its surroundings.
Crosstalk  is not a much signi cant issue, because there are fewer
conductors in proximity.

In many cases, serial is a better option because it is cheaper to implement.

Many  ICs  have serial interfaces, as opposed to parallel ones, so that they
have fewer pins and are therefore less expensive.  It is because of these
factors, serial communication is preferred over parallel communication.

How is Data sent Serially?

Since we already know what are registers and data bits, we would now be
talking in these terms only. If not, I would recommend you to rst take a
detour and go through the introduction of this post by Mayank.

When a particular data set is in the microcontroller, it is in parallel form, and

any bit can be accessed irrespective of its bit number. When this data set is
transferred into the output bu er to be transmitted, it is still in parallel
form. This output bu er converts this data into Serial data (PISO) (Parallel
In Serial Out), MSB (Most Signi cant Bit) rst or LSB (Least Signi cant Bit)
rst as according to the protocol. Now this data is transmitted in Serial mode.

When this data is received by another microcontroller in its receiver bu er,

the receiver bu er converts it back into parallel data (SIPO) (Serial In
Parallel Out) for further processing. The following diagram should make it
clear.

Data Transfer in Serial Communication

This is how serial communication works! But it is not as simple as it looks.

There is a catch in it, which we will discuss little later in the same post. For
now, lets discuss about two modes of serial data transfer – synchronous
and asynchronous.

Serial Transmission Modes

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Asynchronous Data Transfer

Data Transfer is called Asynchronous when data bits are not “synchronized”
with a clock line, i.e. there is no clock line at all!

Lets take an analogy. Imagine you are playing a game with your friend
where you have to throw colored balls (let’s say we have only two colors –
red (R) and yellow (Y)). Lets assume you have unlimited number of balls. You
have to throw a combination of these colored balls to your friend. So you
start throwing the balls. You throw R, then R, then Y, then R again and so on.
So you start your sequence RRYR… and then you end your round and start
another round. How will your buddy on the other side know that you have
nished sending him rst round of balls and that you are already sending
him the second round of balls?? He/she will be completely lost! How nice it
would be if you both sit together and x a protocol that each round consists
of 8 balls! After every 8 balls, you will throw two R balls to ensure that your
friend has caught up with you, and then you again start your second round
of 8 balls. This is what we call asynchronous data transfer.

Asynchronous data transfer has a protocol, which is usually as follows:

The rst bit is always the START bit (which signi es the start of
communication on the serial line), followed by DATA bits (usually 8-bits),
followed by a STOP bit (which signals the end of data packet). There may
be a Parity bit just before the STOP bit. The Parity bit was earlier used for
error checking, but is seldom used these days.
The START bit is always low (0) while the STOP bit is always high (1).

The following diagram explains it.

Asynchronous Data Transfer Timing Diagram

Synchronous Data Transfer

Synchronous data transfer is when the data bits are “synchronized” with a
clock pulse.

We will take the same analogy as before. You are still playing the throw-ball
game, but this time, you have set a timer in your watch such that it beeps
every minute. You will not throw a ball unless you hear a beep from your
watch. As soon as you hear a beep from your watch, you and your friend,
both know that you are going to throw a ball to her. Both of you can keep a
track of time using this; say you start a new round after every 8 beeps. Isn’t
it a much better approach? This approach is what we call synchronous data
transfer.

The concept for synchronous data transfer is simple, and as follows:

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The basic principle is that data bit sampling (or in other words, say,
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‘recording’) is done with respect to clock pluses, as you can see in the
timing diagrams.
Since data is sampled depending upon clock pulses, and since the clock
sources are very reliable, so there is much less error in synchronous as
compared to asynchronous.

Synchronous Data Transfer Timing Diagram

Serial Communication Terminologies

Now its time to learn about some new words, which we will use frequently
in the next few posts. There are many terminologies, or ‘keywords’
associated with serial communication. We will discuss all of them one by
one:

1. MSB/LSB: this stands for Most Signi cant Bit (or Least Signi cant Bit).
You can refer to Mayank’s this post for more information on MSB and LSB.
Since data is transferred bit-by-bit in serial communication, one needs to
know which bit is sent out rst: MSB or LSB.
2. Simplex Communication: In this mode of serial communication, data
can only be transferred from transmitter to receiver and not vice versa.
3. Half Duplex Communication: this means that data transmission can
occur in only one direction at a time, i.e. either from master to slave, or
slave to master, but not both.
4. Full Duplex Communication: full duplex communication means that
data can be transmitted from the master to the slave, and from slave to
the master as the same time!

Types of Transmission

5. Baud Rate: according to Wikipedia, baud is synonymous to  symbols

per second or pulses per second. It is the unit of symbol rate, also known
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case of modem manufacturers baud commonly refers to bits per second.

Importance of Baud Rate

For two microcontrollers to communicate serially they should have the same
baud rate, else serial communication won’t work. This is because when you
set a baud rate, you direct the microcontroller to transmit/receive the data
at that particular rate. So if you set di erent baud rates, then the receiver
might miss out the bits the transmitter is sending (because it is con gured
to receive data and process it with a di erent speed!)

Di erent baud rates are available for use. The most common ones are 2400,
4800, 9600, 19200, 38400 etc. You cannot choose any arbitrary baud rate,
there are some xed values which you must use like 2400, 4800, etc. Please
note that the unit of baud rate is bps (bits per second).

The Catch in Serial Communication

Now it’s all clear to you. You have data. You decide how to send your data
(synchronous/asynchronous). You send your data by following proper
protocols. The transmitter converts your parallel data to serial, sends it
across the channel, then the receiver converts your serial data to parallel.
Bingo! But that’s not su cient for a proper serial communication. There are
two things which still needs to be taken care of:

1. Baud Rate: Unless the baud rate of both the transmitter and receiver
are the same, serial communication cannot work. The reason is speci ed
in the previous section.
2. Address: If you are trying to send multiple data together over the same
channel and/or you are sharing the same channel space with other users
sending their own data, then you need to take care to properly address
your data. We won’t discuss about it in this post, but we will surely discuss
about it in one of our upcoming posts.

If you take care of these two factors, your serial communication will be
established perfectly and your data will go through properly. These are the
two main reasons for unsuccessful serial link.

UART and USART

UART stands for Universal  Asynchronous  Receiver  Transmitter, whereas
USART stands for  Universal  Synchronous
Asynchronous  Receiver  Transmitter. They are basically just a piece of
computer hardware that converts parallel data into serial data. The only
di erence between them is that UART supports only asynchronous mode,
whereas USART supports both asynchronous and synchronous modes.
Unlike Ethernet, Firewire etc., there is no speci c port for UART/USART. They
are commonly used in conjugation with protocols like RS-232, RS-434 etc.
(we have speci c ports for these two!).

In synchronous transmission, the clock data is recovered separately from the

data stream and no start/stop bits are used. This improves the e ciency of
transmission on suitable channels since more of the bits sent are usable
data and not character framing.

The USART has the following components:

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A clock generator, usually

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the middle of a bit period
Input and output shift registers
Transmit/receive control
Read/write control logic
Transmit/receive bu ers (optional)
Parallel data bus bu er (optional)
First-in, rst-out (FIFO) bu er memory (optional)

Serial Communication Protocols

A variety of communication protocols have been developed based on serial
communication in the past few decades. Some of them are:

1. SPI – Serial Peripheral Interface: It is a three-wire based

communication system. One wire each for Master to slave and Vice-versa,
and one for clock pulses. There is an additional SS (Slave Select) line,
which is mostly used when we want to send/receive data between
multiple ICs.
2. I2C – Inter-Integrated Circuit: Pronounced eye-two-see or eye-square-
see, this is an advanced form of USART. The transmission speeds can be
as high as a whopping 400KHz. The I2C bus has two wires – one for clock,
and the other is the data line, which is bi-directional – this being the
reason it is also sometimes (not always – there are a few conditions)
called Two Wire Interface (TWI). It is a pretty new and revolutionary
technology invented by Philips.
3. FireWire – Developed by Apple, they are high-speed buses capable of
audio/video transmission. The bus contains a number of wires depending
upon the port, which can be either a 4-pin one, or a 6-pin one, or an 8-pin
one.

4. Ethernet: Used mostly in LAN connections, the bus consists of 8 lines,

or 4 Tx/Rx pairs.
5. Universal serial bus (USB): This is the most popular of all. Is used for
virtually all type of connections. The bus has 4 lines: VCC, Ground, Data+,
and Data-.

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USB Pins

6. RS-232 – Recommended Standard 232: The RS-232 is typically

connected using a DB9 connector, which has 9 pins, out of which 5 are
input, 3 are output, and one is Ground. You can still nd this so-called
“Serial” port in some old PCs. In our upcoming posts, we will discuss
mainly about RS232 and USART of AVR microcontrollers.

So that is it for now folks! We will be discussing about RS-232 and its basics
in the next post! Don’t forget to post your comments and questions
down below! And yes, subscribe to maxEmbedded and stay tuned! :)

Written By-
Yash Tambi
VIT University, Vellore
[email protected]

QC and Mentorship By-

Mayank Prasad
Arizona State University
[email protected]

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