Department of Electronics and Communication

Basic Electronics and Communication 18ELN14

VS Notes

Module 3

This module introduces the following topics:

 Embedded Systems
 Sensors and Interfacing
 Actuators
 Communication Interface

Embedded System??
Electronic / Electro-mechanical system designed to perform a specific function, a combination
of both hardware and firmware (software). Special hardware and firmware specific to an
application. Firm ware is unalterable by the end user. Ex: Smart phones has built-in operating
system and cannot be altered by the end user.

Embedded System Vs General Computing System

Sl. General Computing System Embedded Systems (ES)

No.

1 Combination of generic Combination of special purpose hardware band

hardware and general-purpose embedded Operating System (GPOS) for executing
Operating System (GPOS) for specific set of applications of applications
executing variety of
applications

2 Contains general purpose OS May or may not contain an OS

3 Applications are alterable by The firm wares are pre-programmed and not
the end user, re-install OS, alterable, special hardware settings are required for
add/remove applications altering..

4 Performance is the key Application specific requirements (performance,

indicator for selection of the power, memory… are key deciding factors
system, “faster is better”

5. General Computing System Embedded Systems (ES)

6. Different levels of power Highly tailored to take advantage of the power

management is possible saving modes supported by hardware and the OS

7 Response requirements are not For certain category of ES, like Mission Critical
time critical systems, response time requirement is highly

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critical

8 Need not be deterministic in Execution behaviour is deterministic for certain

execution behaviour types of embedded systems liek “real Time
Systems”

Criteria for classification:

A) Based on Generation
B) Complexity and Performance Requirements
C) Deterministic behaviour
D) Based on Triggering

A) Classification Based on Generation

Based on the order in which the Embedded systems are evolved from the first version to what
it is today
1) First Generation: Built around 8 bit microprocessor
Simple hardware circuits and firmware in assembly code, Ex: digital telephone
keypads, stepper motor control units
2) Second Generation: Built around 16 bit microprocessor,
8/16 bit microcontroller
Complex hardware circuits
Data acquisition system
Ex: SCADA – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System

3) Third Generation: Built around 32 bit microprocessor / 16 bit MC

Application specific processor/controller like DSP and ASIC
Complex instruction set with pipelining concept
Different vendors: INTEL, Motorola
Dedicated embedded real time OS
Used in Robotics, media/industrial process control, networking….

4) Fourth Generation: High Performance

System on Chip (SoC)
Reconfigurable Processors
Multicore Processes
High performance OS
Ex: Smart phones
Mobile Internet Devices (MIDS)

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Classification Based on Complexity and Performance

Based on the complexity and System Requirements

B) Classification Based on Complexity and Performance

1) Small-scale Embedded System:
Simple in application needs
Performance requirements are not time critical
Built around key performance
Low cost
Built with 8/16 bit microcontrollers
May or may not contain an operating system
Ex: Electronic Toys
2) Medium-scale Embedded System System :
Slightly complex hardware and firmware
16/32 bit microcontroller or Digital Signal Processor
Generally contain an operating system – either general purpose or real time systems
3) Large-scale Embedded System System :
Highly complex hardware and firmware
Used in mission critical applications requiring high performance
32/64 bit RISC processor/controller or or Reconfigurable System on Chip or
multicore processor or programmable logic devices
May contain multiple processors/controllers and co-units/hardware accelerators for
off-loading the processing requirements from main processor to system
Usually contain a high performance Real Rime Operating System(RTOS) for task
scheduling, prioritization and management
Ex: Decoding/encoding of media, cryptographic function implementation logic
devices

C) Deterministic behaviour: The application / task execution behaviour can be either

deterministic or non- deterministic.
Applicable for ‘Real Time’ Systems
Based on the execution behaviour, ‘Real Time’ Systems are classified as Hard and
Soft

D) Based on Triggering: Embedded systems which are reactive’ in nature can be classified
based on trigger. Ex. Of reactive system – process control system in industrial control
application.
Reactive Systems can either be event triggered or time triggered.

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Applications

1) Consumer Electronics:
Camcorders, Cameras
2) Household
TV, DVD players, Washing machine, fridge, microwave oven
3) Home automation and security system:
Air conditioner, sprinkler, intruder detection alarms, fire alarms CCTV( closed ckt TV), fire
alarms etc.
4) Automotive Industry:
Anti-lock breaking systems (ABS) , engine control , ignition systems, automotive navigation
systems , etc.
5) Telecom:
Cellular telephones , telephone switches , handset multimedia applications, etc.
6) Computer peripherals:
Printers , scanners , fax machines etc.
Computer networking system:
Network routers switches, hub, firewalls , etc.
8) Healthcare:
Different kinds of scanners .EEG,ECG machines etc.
9) Measurements and Instruments:
Digital multimeters, digital CROs, logic analysers PLC systems, etc.
10) Banking and Retail:
Automatic teller machines (ATM) and currency counters, point of sales (POS)
11) Card Readers:
Barcode, smart card readers, hand held devices, etc.
12) Wearable Devices:
Health and fitness trackers, smart phone screen extension for notifications etc.
13) Cloud Computing and internet of things(IOT)

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Elements of Embedded Systems

Single chip controller which is a master brain

Controller can be processor (Intel 8085, Atmel AT 89C51) or FPGA (Field Programmable Gate
Array) or DSP processor or ASIC (Application Specific Integrator Circuit)
Embedded hardware/software systems are generally designed to regulate a physical variable or
to manipulate the state of some devices by sending some control signals to the actuators or
devices connected to the output out put port of the system in response to the input
The input can be manual or from sensors connected to the input port.
Hence Embedded system is reactive system.
The control is achieved by processing the information coming from sensors and user
interfaces, and controlling some actuators that regulate the physical variable
Input devices are keyboards, push button switches etc.
Output devices are LEDs, Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), piezo electric buzzers
The above devices are selected based on the applications
Some Embedded systems do not require manual intervention for their operation, they
automatically sense the input variations through sensors at the input port.
The sensor information is passed to the processor after signal conditioning and digitization

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The processor performs the pre-defined operation with the help of the firmware and sends the
signals to the actuators connected to the output ports.

This acts on the controlling variable and brings it to the desired level.
The memory holds the control algorithm and other configuration details.
Normally memory is fixed type, ROM (Read Only Memory). And the end user cannot modify;
PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), UVEPROM (Ultra-Violet Erasable
Programmable Read Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read
Only Memory), and FLASH memory are used.

The memory size ranges from few bytes to megabytes Based on application
Some controllers do not have inbuilt memory and hence require external memory

Core of Embedded Systems

Embedded systems are domain and application specific and built around a central core, Any
embedded system is built around any of the core units mentioned above.
Categories are as follows:
1) General Purpose and Domain Specific Processors
Microprocessors
Microcontrollers
Digital Signal Processors
2) Application Specific Integrator Circuits (ASICs)
3) Programmable Logic Devices(PLDs)
4) Commercial off-the-shelf Components (COTS)

RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) Vs CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer)

Sl. RISC CISC

No.

1 Less number of instructions Greater number of instructions

2 Uses both hardwired and micro programmed control

Uses only Hardwired control unit
unit

3 Non-Orthogonal Instruction set (All instructions are

Orthogonal Instruction set not allowed to operate on any register and use any
addressing mode. It is instruction specific)

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4 Fixed sized instructions Variable sized instructions

5 Requires more number of Requires less number of registers

registers

6 Less Silicon Usage and pin More silicon since additional decoder logic is
count required to implement the complex instruction

VON NEUMANN ARCHITECTURE HARVARD ARCHITECTURE

It is modern computer architecture

It is ancient computer architecture based on
based on Harvard Mark I relay based
stored program computer concept.
model.

Same physical memory address is used for Separate physical memory address is
instructions and data. used for instructions and data.

Since data and program are in

Since data and program are in same memory,
different location, no chance of
there is chance of accidental corruption of
accidental corruption of program
program memory
memory

There is common bus for data and instruction Separate buses are used for
transfer. transferring data and instruction.

Allows self-modifying codes.

No memory alignment problems

Cheaper Comparatively costly

CPU can not access instructions and read/write CPU can access instructions and
at the same time. read/write at the same time.

Von-Neuman Vs Harvard Architecture

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Fig: Von-Neuman and Harvard Architecture

Sensors and Interfacing

Transducers convert one form of energy into another. Sensor is an example of transducer.
Sensors provide us with a means of generating signals that can be used as inputs to electronic
circuits.
The things that we might want to sense include physical parameters such as temperature, light
level and pressure.
The electrical signal that accurately represents these quantities allows us not only to measure
and record these values but also to control them.

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Instrumentation and control Systems

Fig. shows the Instrumentation system.The physical quantity to be measured (e.g. temperature)
acts upon a sensor. The sensor produces an electrical output signal equivalent to the physical
quantity.
There may not be a linear relationship between the physical quantity and its electrical
equivalent.
The output produced by the sensor may be small or may suffer from the presence of noise (i.e.
unwanted signals)
Hence Further signal conditioning will be required before the signal will be at an acceptable
level and in an acceptable form for signal processing, for display and recording.
Furthermore, because the signal processing may use digital rather than analog signals an
additional stage of analog to digital conversion may be required.
The Control system uses negative feedback in order to regulate and stabilize the output as in
fig, shown.
It thus becomes possible to set the input or demand (i.e. what we desire the output to be) and
leave the system to regulate itself by comparing it with a signal derived from the output (via a
sensor and
appropriate signal conditioning).
A comparator is used to sense the difference in these two signals and where any discrepancy
is detected the input to the power amplifier is adjusted accordingly. This signal is referred to as
an error signal
It should be zero when the output exactly matches the demand.
The input (demand) is often derived from a simple potentiometer connected across a stable d.c.
voltage source while the controlled device can take many forms (e.g. a d.c. motor, linear
actuator, heater, etc.).

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Basic Electronics and Communication 18ELN14
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Fig: Control System

Fig. shows the arrangement of a control system. This uses negative feedback in order to
regulate and stabilize the output. It thus becomes possible to set the input or demand (i.e. what
we desire the output to be) and leave the system to regulate itself by comparing it with a signal
derived from the output (via a sensor and appropriate signal conditioning). A comparator is
used to sense the difference in these two signals and where any discrepancy is detected the
input to the power amplifier is adjusted accordingly. This signal is referred to as an error signal
(it should be zero when the output exactly matches the demand). The input (demand) is often
derived from a simple potentiometer connected across a stable d.c. voltage source while the
controlled device can take many forms (e.g. a d.c. motor, linear actuator, heater, etc.).
Transducers
Transducers are devices that convert energy in the form of sound, light, heat, etc., into an
equivalent electrical signal, or vice versa.
Ex: Loud speaker, microphone are complementary transducers
Transducers may be used both as inputs to electronic circuits and outputs from them.
Loudspeaker is an output transducer designed for use in conjunction with an audio system
and a microphone is an input transducer designed for use with a recording or sound
reinforcing system.
There are many different types of transducer and Tables provide some examples of transducers
that can be used to input and output three important physical quantities; sound, temperature
and angular position.

Sensors
A sensor is a special kind of transducer that is used to generate an input signal to a
measurement, instrumentation or control system.
The signal produced by a sensor is an electrical analogy of a physical quantity, such as
distance velocity, acceleration, temperature, pressure, light level, etc.

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The signals returned from a sensor, together with control inputs from the user or controller (as
appropriate) will subsequently be used to determine the output from the system.
The choice of sensor is governed by a number of factors including accuracy, resolution, cost
and physical size. Sensors can be categorized as either active or passive.
An active sensor generates a current or voltage output.
A passive transducer requires a source of current or voltage and it modifies this in some way
(e.g. by virtue of a change in the sensor’s resistance). The result may still be a voltage or
current but it is not generated by the sensor on its own.
Sensors can also be classed as either digital or analog.
The output of a digital sensor can exist in only two discrete states, either ‘on’ or ‘off’, in only
two discrete states, either ‘on’ or ‘off low’ or ‘high’, ‘logic 1’ or ‘logic 0’, etc. The output of an
analogue sensor can take any one of an infinite number of voltage or current levels. It is thus
said to be continuously variable.

Exs of Input Transducer

Physical Quantity Input Transducer Notes
Sound (pressure Dynamic Diaphragm attached to a coil is suspended in a
change) microphone magnetic
field. Movement of the diaphragm causes current to
be
induced in the coil.
Temperature Thermocouple Small e.m.f. generated at the junction between two
(see dissimilar metals (e.g. copper and constantan).
Fig. 15.2) Requires
reference junction and compensated cables for
accurate
measurement.
Angular position Rotary Fine wire resistive element is wound around a
potentiometer circular
former. Slider attached to the control shaft makes
contact
with the resistive element. A stable d.c. voltage
source is
connected across the ends of the potentiometer.
Voltage
appearing at the slider will then be proportional to
angular
position.

Exs of Output Transducer

Physical Quantity Input Transducer Notes

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Sound (pressure Loudspeaker Diaphragm attached to a coil is suspended in a

change) magnetic
field. Current in the coil causes movement of the
diaphragm
which alternately compresses and rarefies the air
mass in
front of it.
Temperature Heating element Metallic conductor is wound onto a ceramic or mica
(resistor) former.
Current flowing in the conductor produces heat.
Angular position Rotary Multi-phase motor provides precise rotation in
potentiometer discrete
steps of 15° (24 steps per revolution), 7.5° (48 steps
per
revolution) and 1.8° (200 steps per revolution).

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Basic Electronics and Communication 18ELN14
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Sensor:
is a transducer that converts energy from one form to another form for any measurement and
control purpose.
Actuator:
is form of transducer device (mechanical or electrical) which converts signal to corresponding
physical action (motion). Actuator acts as an output device.

Light Emitting Diode (LED):

is an important output device for visual indication in any embedded system. It can be used as
indicators for the status of various signals or situations. Ex. Indication of On/Off of power,
battery low etc..
LED is a pn junction diode with an anode and cathode. When anode is connected to the
positive terminal of the battery and cathode to the negative terminal, the LED is ON. A resistor
is used in series with LED to connect to the supply in order to limit the current. The brightness
of the LED depends on the amount of current flowing through the diode. Fig. shows the
interfacing circuit.
There are two methods of interfacing LED to the processor/controller:
1) Directly the anode of LED can be connected to the port pin and the and the port pin drives
the LED. When the port pin is high, it sources (provides) current to LED.
2) The cathode of LED can be connected to the port pin and anode is connected to the supply
through the current limiting resistor. The LED is on when the port pin is at logic zero and
the current is sourced by the supply and the port pin acts as the sink.
Seven Segment LED Display:
This is an output device and displays the alpha-numeric characters. It contains a total of 8
LEDs, seven for displaying numeric characters and one for displaying the decimal point. Fig.
shows the Seven Segment LED Display.

The LED segments are named A to G and the decimal point is named as DP. Based on the
character/number to be displayed the respective segment LEDs are lit. Ex: To display “1” – B
and C segments are lit, to display “B” or “8” all segments from A to G should be lit. All these
segments should be connected to one processor/controller. The Seven Segment LED Displays
are available in two configurations as shown below:

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1) Common cathode: where all the cathodes are connected to a common point and anodes are
connected to the port pins. The port pin should be at logic one for the LED segment to be
lit.
2) Common anode: where all the anodes are connected to a positive of the supply through a
current limiting resistor and the cathodes are connected to the port pins. The port pin
should be at logic zero for the LED segment to be lit.

The value of the current limiting resistor should be chosen based on the LED rating in the data
sheet

Stepper Motor: is an electro-mechanical device which generates discrete displacement

(motion) in response to dc electrical signals.
A normal DC motor produces continuous rotation on applying dc voltage where as stepper
motor rotates in steps, discrete motion.
Stepper motors are used in industrial embedded applications, consumer electronic products and
robotics control systems. Ex: the paper feed mechanism of a printer/fax.
Based on the coil winding mechanism, a two-phase stepper motor is classified as:
1) Unipolar Stepper motor: This has two windings per phase. The direction of rotation
(clockwise or anti-clockwise) is controlled by changing the direction of the current flow.
The current flows though both the coils in the opposite direction. The direction of rotation
can be changes by switching the terminals to which the coils are connected. Fig. shows the
operation two phase unipolar Stepper Motor. The coils are represented as A, B, C,D. For
phase 1 only one of the coils will be carrying current at a time, A or B. Then for phase 2
only one of the coils will be carrying current at a time, C or D.

Fig. two-phase unipolar stepper motor.

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Fig. Stator winding details of a two-phase unipolar stepper motor.

2) Bipolar Stepper motor: Contains single winding per phase. For reversing the direction of
rotation of motor the direction of the current flow through the coil should be changed
dynamically. This requires complex circuitry.

Modes of a Stepper Motor:

Full Step: Here both the phases are energized simultaneously. Only one winding is energized at
a time. The coils A,B,C,D are energized in the following order:

Wave Step: Only one phase is energized at a time and each coils of the phase is energized
alternately. The coils A,B,C,D are energized in the following order:

Half Step: It uses the combination of wave and full step. It has higher torque and stability. The
coils A,B,C,D are energized in the following order:

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The rotation of the Stepper motor can be reversed by reversing the order in which the coil is
energized.
Two phase unipolar stepper motor is largely used in the embedded applications. The current
requirements for the stepper motor is high and hence the microcontroller cannot prove the
same and hence the motor cannot be connected to the microcontroller pins. Based on the
current requirements, special driving circuits are required to interface the microcontroller to the
stepper motor. ULN2803 is an example of driver and is connected as shown in the figure drives
the 5v stepper motor.

Relay: is an electro-mechanical device. It is basically a switch having multiple contacts, few

open and few close. The relay contains a an insulated wire wound on a metal core and a metal
armature with one or more contacts.
Relay works on electro-magnetic principle. When a voltage is applied to the relay coil, current
flows through the coil, which in turn generates the magnetic field. The magnetic field attarcts
the armature core and moves the contact point. The movement of the contact point
closes/opens the switches and changes the signal flow path.
Figure shows the relay configurations.

1) Single Pole Single Throw normally open: SPST has only one path for information flow.
The path is either open or closed in normal condition. For normally open SPST, the circuit
is normally open and it closes when the relay is energized. For normally closed SPST, the
circuit is normally closed and it opens when the relay is energized. There are two paths for
information flow. Fig. shows the transistor-based relay driving circuit.

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Fig: Transistor based Relay driving circuit

Here the transistor is used for building the relay driver circuit. A free-wheeling diode is used
for free-wheeling the voltage produced in the opposite direction when the relay coil is de-
energized to protect the transistor and the relay.
The industrial relays are bulky and hence special relays called the REED relays are used for
embedded application with low DC voltages.
2) Single Pole Single Throw normally closed:
3) Single Pole Double Throw:

Piezo-electric Buzzer
Piezo Buzzer: is a piezoelectric device for generating audio indications in embedded
application. It contains a piezoelectric diaphragm which produces audible sound in response to
the voltage applied across it.
Piezo Buzzer are of two types:
1) Self Driving – This contains all necessary components to generate sound when the voltage
is applied.
2) External Driving – supports the generation of different tones. The tones can be varied by
applying a variable pulse train to the piezo-electric buzzer.

Piezo electric-Buzzer can be directly connected to the port pins of the processor/controller.
Also based on the current requirements, transistor driver can be used.
Push Button Switch: is an input device. There are two configurations.
1) Push to make – Here the switch is normally open and is pushed to close the circuit.
2) Push to break - Here the switch is normally close and is pushed to open/break the circuit.
The Push Button Switch is used for generating momentary pulses.
Push Button Switch is directly connected to the port pins of the processor/controller. Based on
the way the switch is connected, it can produce a high or a low pulse.

Push Button Switch

Applications of Push Button Switch: Used as start switch, Reset switch and pulse generator.

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Fig: Push button switch configuration

Keyboard: is an input device for user interfacing. If the number of keys required is very less,
push button switches can be used and they can be directly interfaced to the
controller/processor.
When large number of keys are required, they cannot be directly connected to the
processor/controller as the number of port pins are limited. In this situation matrix keyboard is
an optimum solution for handling large keys. It greatly reduces the number of interface
connections. Ex: Only 8 pins are required to interface 16 keys in place of 16 pins in normal
connection as shown in fig below.
The keys are arranged in matrix fashion. For detecting a key press, the keyboard uses scanning
technique. Each row is pulled low and the columns are read. This process is repeated for every
row. When a row is pulled low, is a key connected to that row is pressed, the respective column
will return a zero.
Since the switch is mechanical, there will be de-bouncing issues, which may give multiple key
press effect for a single press.
Solution for de-bouncing issues:
1) Hardware key de-bouncing circuits are available. A flip-flop can be used with the required
delay by selecting appropriate clock frequency.
2) Software technique: Delay is introduced in reading the keys, so that the state of the
genuinely pressed key is considered. No additional hardware is required and is easy to
implement.

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Fig: Matrix Keyboard Interfacing

Communication Interface
Communication Interface is essential for communicating with various subsystems of the
embedded system and with the external world. For an embedded system product, the
communication system is classified as:
1) Device/Board level Communication or Onboard Communication Interface – The
communication channel which interconnects the various components/devices within the
embedded product. Serial interfaces like I2C, SPI, UART I-wire etc. and parallel bus
interface are examples of Device/Board level Communication.
2) Product level Communication or External Communication Interface – This refers to the
communication with different devices in different embedded systems. This is required in a
larger system containing distributed system which require data transfer and interaction
between various devices and subsystems. The external communication can be wired or
wireless, parallel or serial. Examples of wireless communication include Infrared(IR),
Bluetooth(BT), wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), Radio waves(RF), GPRS, 3G/$G, TE etc. Wired
communication include RS-232C/RS-422/RS-485, USB, Ethernet, IEEE I interface, 394
port parallel port, CF-II interface, SDIO, PCMCIA/PCI ex, etc.

All the embedded system need not have both Board level and Product level Communication.
Based on the system requirement the type of communication listed above can be adopted.
Mobile equipment is an example of embedded system with external communication interface.

Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART): is an asynchronous form of serial

data transmission. This does not require clock for synchronizing the transmitter and the
receiver. The communication is based on pre-defined agreement between the transmitting
device and the receiving device. The serial communication settings include Baud rate,
number of bits per byte, parity, number of start bits and stop bits and flow control, which
should be identical to both the transmitter and the receiver. The start and stop of
communication is indicated through inserting special bits in the data stream. While sending
a byte of data, start bit (LSB) is added first and stop bit is sent at the end of the bit stream.

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The start bit informs the receiver that a data byte is about to arrive. The receiver device
starts polling (scanning) its “receive line” as per the baud rate setting. If the baud rate is x
bits per second, the time for one bit is 1/x seconds. The receiver unit polls the receiver line
at exactly half of the time slot available for 1 bit.
If the parity is enabled for communication, it is set to one if the number of bits in the
transmitted byte is odd and resets to zero the number of bits in the transmitted byte is even.
The UART of the receiving device calculates the parity and compares with received parity
bit for error checking. The UART of the receiving device discards the parity, start and stop
bit and converts the received bit data to a word. (The bit received first is LSB and the bit
received last is MSB) For proper communication, the “Transmit line” of the sending device
should be connected to the receive line of the receiving device as in fig.

Fig: UART Interfacing

Parallel Interface: The on-board parallel interface is normally used for communicating with
peripheral devices which are memory mapped to the host of the system. The host
processor/controller of the embedded system and the device which supports the parallel
interface can directly connect to this bus system. The control signal interface is used to control
the communication through the parallel bus. The control signal includes the read/write/device
select signals
Only the host processor has the control over read and write signals. The devices are connected
to the host with proper address. An address decoder circuit is used to generate the chip select
signal. Based on the address range assigned, the respective chips will be selected. Only when
the select line is active the processor can read or write from or to the device by activating the
respective control line read/write.
Parallel communication is host process initiated and strict timing characteristics are followed.
If a device wants to initiate communication, it can request for the same through interrupts. The
interrupt line of the device is connected to the processor and the corresponding interrupt is
enabled in the host processor. The width of the parallel interface is determined by the width of
the data bus of the host processor. Fig. shows the parallel interface.

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Universal Serial Bus(USB): is a wired high speed serial bus for data communication. The first
version of USB released in 1995 and was created by the USB core group members consisting
of Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Compaq, Digital and Northern Telecom.

Fig: USB Device Connection Topology

The USB communication system follows a star topology as in figure, with USB host at the
canter and one or more USB peripheral devices/USB hosts connected to it. USB 2.0 host can
support connectivity up to 127 connections including the slave peripheral devices and other
hosts.

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Transmits data in packet format. Each data packet has a standard format. USB communication
is a host initiated one. The USB host contains a host controller which is responsible for
controlling the data communication including establishing connectivity with USB slave
devices, packetizing and formatting the data packet.
There are different standards for implementing the USB host Control Interface: namely Open
host Control Interface(OHCI) and Universal host Control Interface(UHCI). The physical
connection between a USB peripheral device and master device is established with a USB
cable.
USB 2.0 supports a distance of 5mtrs. It uses two different types of connectors at the ends of
the USB cable for connecting the USB peripheral device and the host device. Type A connector
is used for upstream connection (connection with host) and Type B or mini/micro USB
connector is used for downstream connection (connection with slave device). The USB in
PC/laptop is type A connector. Both type A and B connectors 4 pins for communication as in
table.

USB uses differential signals for transmission to improve the noise immunity. USB interface
has the ability to supply power to the connecting devices. A standard downstream USB 2.0 Port
(SDP) can supply current up to 500mA at 5v, where as a Charging standard downstream USB
2.0 Port (SDP) can supply current up to 1500mA at 5v. It is sufficient to operate low power
devices
Mini and micro USBs are available for portable media players and smartphones.
Each USB contains a product ID(PID) and a vendor ID(VID) which are essential for loading
the drivers corresponding to a USB device for communication.
USB support 4 different types of data transfers:
1) Control: Used by USB system software to query, configure and issue commands to USB
device. Bulk transfer is used to send a block of data to a device. Bulk transfer supports
error checking and correction. Ex: transfer data to a printer.
2) Isochronous: is used for real time data communication, which means the data transfer
happens in real time. It does not support error checking and re-transmission in case of data
loss. Ex: Medical devices, audio devices
3) Interrupt transfer: is used for transferring small amount of data. This uses the polling
technique to check if the USB device has any data to send. The frequency of polling is
determined by the USB device and varies from 1 to 255 milliseconds. Ex. Mouse and
keyboard

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Basic Electronics and Communication 18ELN14
VS Notes

USB 3.x has a new transfer mode called the Superspeed (SS) transfer mode capable of transferring
the data at speed of up to 2.0. Type A and B connection has 9 pins.

Wi-Fi or Wireless Fidelity: is the popular wireless communication technique for networked
communication devices. It follows the IEEE 802.11 standard. Wi-Fi is intended for network
communication and it supports Internet Protocol (IP) based communication. It is required to have
device identities in a multi-point communication to address specific devices for data
communication.
In an IP based communication each device is identified by an IP address, which is unique to each
device on a Wi-Fi network.

Wi-Fi based communication requires an intermediate agent called Wi-Fi router/Wireless Access
point to manage the communications. Wi- Fi router is responsible for restricting the access to a
network, assigning IP address to devices on network, routing data packets to the intended devices
on network. Wi-Fi enabled devices contain a wireless adapter for transmitting and receiving data in
the form of radio signals through an antenna. The hardware part is known as Wi-Fi Radio. Wi-Fi
operates at 2.4GHz or 5GHz of the radio spectrum and co-exist with the Industrial Scientific and
Medical (ISM) band like Bluetooth.

Figure shows a typical interfacing of devices for a Wi-Fi communication. When a device for
communication is turned ON, searches the available network in the vicinity and lists the Servive
Set Identifier (SSID) of the available networks. If the network is security enabled, a password may
be required to connect a particular SSID. Wi-Fi uses different security mechanisms. Wired
Equivalency Privacy (WEP), Wired Protected Access (WPA) etc. for securing the data
communications. Wi-Fi supports the data ranging from 1Mbps to 1300 Mbps. As the data rate is
increased, based on the IEEE standards different modulation/Access methods are used.
Based on the type of antenna and usage location(indoor/outdoor), Wi-Fi offers a range of 100 to
1000 feet.

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 Department of Electronics and Communication
Basic Electronics and Communication 18ELN14
VS Notes

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), 3G, 4G, LTE: These are cellular communication technique
for transferring data over a mobile communication network like GSM and CDMA. Data is sent as
packets in GPRS communication. The transmitting device splits the data into several related
packets. At the receiver the data is reconstructed by combining the received data packets. GPRS
supports a theoretical maximum data transfer rate of 171.2kbps. In GPRS communication, the radio
channel is concurrently shared by several users instead of dedicating a radio channel to a user. The
GPRS communication divides the channel into 8 time slots and transmits data over the available
channel. GPRS supports the Internet Protocol (IP), Point to Point Protocol (PPP) and X.25
protocols for communication.
GPRS is used for mobile enabled embedded devices for data communication. The device should
support hardware like GPRS modem and GPRS radio. Also, the carrier network should have
support for GPRS communication.
GPRS is an old technology. It is being replaced by new generation cellular data communication
techniques like 3G (3rd Generation), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), 4G (4 th
Generation), LTE (Long Term Evolution) which offers higher bandwidth for communication. 3 G
offers data rates ranging from 144kbps to 2Mbps or higher, 4G give a practical throughput of 2 to
100bps depending on network and the underlying technology.

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