Hello and welcome to this presentation of the Universal Asynchronous Receiver and

Transmitter – or UART – module for Kinetis MCUs. In this session you’ll learn about
the UART module, its main features and the application benefits of leveraging this
function.

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In this presentation we’ll cover:

• An overview of the UART module

• The on-chip interconnections and inter-module dependencies
• Hardware and software configurations
• And some frequently asked questions

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We’ll first begin with an overview of the module.

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UART Module Features and Application Benefits

The UART module within the Kinetis MCU family of devices allows full duplex,
asynchronous, non-return to zero serial communication between the CPU and
remote devices. The UART transmitter and receiver operate independently,
although they use the same baud rate generator. Data formats can be programmed
for 8- or 9-bits with programmable polarity and the ability to select MSB or LSB as
the first bit; it can operate in interrupt, DMA or polled modes and it provides two
wake-up methods.

In addition, the UART also supports IrDA and ISO-7816 functionality, which will be
discussed in the next two slides.

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IrDA Mode Features

The UART also features an infrared transmit encoder and a receive decoder that
provides the capability of transmitting narrow pulses to an InfraRed LED and it can
receive narrow pulses transforming them to serial bits that are sent to the UART.
This design covers data rates only between 2.4 kbits/s and 115.2 kbits/s.

However, please note that the TX source can be configured to be modulated with
FlexTimer (FTM) module outputs, and the RX input source can be configured to
come from the comparator.

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ISO-7816 Mode Features

The UART provides mechanisms to support the ISO-7816 protocol that is

commonly used to interface with smartcards.

There are multiple sub-protocols within the ISO-7816 standard. The UART supports
both T = 0 and T = 1 protocols
protocols. The module also supports automated initial
character detection and 11 or 12 ETU transfers. It can also provide automated
NACK responses and has programmed automated retransmission of failed packets.

Also, a list of interrupts specific to ISO-7816 are provided on the slide in addition to
the general interrupts to assist software.

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UART Transmitter Block Diagram

The UART transmitter can accommodate either 8-, 9-, or 10-bit data characters
depending on M, PE and M10 bits. Hardware also supports parity, odd or even, and
hardware flow control. If the clear-to-send operation is enabled, the character is
transmitted when CTS is asserted.

When the MSBF bit is set, the UART automatically transmits the most significant bit
of the data word as the first bit after the start bit. Similarly, the least significant bit of
the data word is transmitted immediately preceding the parity bit, or the stop bit if
parity is not enabled.

To transmit data
data, the MCU writesrites the data bits to the UART transmit b
buffer
ffer using
sing
UART data register UART_D. Data in the transmit buffer is then transferred to the
transmit shift register as needed. The transmit shift register then shifts a frame out
through the transmit data output signal after it has prefaced it with any required start
and stop bits. The UART also sets the transmit data register empty flag and
generates an interrupt or DMA request whenever the number of data words in the
transmit buffer is equal
q to or less than the value indicated by
y TXWATER field.

In IrDA mode, the infrared transmit encoder converts serial bits of data from the
transmit shift register to the data transmission (TXD) signal, a narrow pulse is
transmitted for a zero bit and no pulse for a one bit.
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UART Receiver Block Diagram

The UART receiver can accommodate 8-, 9-, or 10-bit data characters depending on the
states of M, PE, SBNS and M10 bits. To support hardware flow control, the receiver can be
programmed to automatically de-assert and assert RTS.

When the MSBF bit is set, the receiver operates such that the first bit received after the
g
start bit is the most significant bit of the data word. Similarly,
y, the bit received immediatelyy
preceding the parity bit, or the stop bit if parity is not enabled, is treated as the least
significant bit for the data word. As in the transmitter, all the necessary bit ordering is
handled automatically by the module. Therefore, the format of the data read from receive
data buffer is completely independent of the MSBF bit.

During UART reception, the receive shift register shifts a frame in from the unsynchronized
receiver input signal. After a complete frame shifts into the receive shift register, the data
portion
ti off the
th frame
f transfers
t f to
t the
th UART receive
i buffer.
b ff Additionally,
Additi ll th
the noise
i and d parity
it
error flags that are calculated during the receive process are also captured in the UART
receive buffer. The receive data buffer is accessible via the D register.

When receiving data in IrDA mode, the infrared pulses are detected using an infrared photo
diode and the infrared receive decoder converts the received character from the IrDA
format to the non-return to zero format used by the receiver.

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Now let’s discuss on-chip interconnection and inter-module dependencies.

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UART Interconnect Diagram

The System Integration Module, or SIM, controls clock gating for the UARTs. The SIM must
be initialized to enable the clock for any UART before it can be initialized, otherwise module
registers are not accessible until the clock is enabled.

The SIM also controls RX and TX sources for UART0 and UART1. The default option is a
direct connection between the UART and the RX and TX pins. The alternate options for RX
are comparator
p 0 and 1. The alternate options
p for TX are output
p modulated with channel 0
of FlexTimer Modules 1 and 2.

However, please note that if you are using an alternate source for RX and/or TX, the SIM
should be configured to select the source before enabling the receiver and/or transmitter in
the UART

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Next, lets talk about hardware configuration.

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UART RS-232 Hardware Connections

This is a block diagram of the hardware connections for RS-232 implementation.

The diagram shows the optional hardware flow control signals, but only the RX and
TX data connections are required.

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UART RS-485 Hardware Connections

This is a block diagram of the hardware connections for RS-485 implementation.

Here RTS should be configured for TXRTS mode and active high polarity.

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ISO-7816 Hardware Connections

This is a block diagram of the hardware connections for an ISO-7816

implementation. In this mode, UART should be configured for single wire mode and
the UART_TX is used for transmit and receive data.

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IrDA Hardware Connections

As shown here for IrDA mode, the SIM options for alternate TX and RX sources are
enabled. The output of the comparator is used to drive the UART input, and the
UART_TX pin is the UART output modulated with a FlexTimer channel.

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Let’s now discuss software configuration.

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Kinetis SDK UART Initialization Driver

The initialization code shown here can be used to configure the UART for eight data bits, no parity,
and one stop bit with interrupts and hardware flow-control disabled. The baud rate used in this
initialization is 115200 (1-15-200) and the module clock is expected to be 100MHz.

• As a first step, it is necessary to define a uart_state_t variable and an uart_user_config_t

variable.
- The uart_state_t variable is a structure that holds data used by the UART peripheral
driver to communicate between the transfer function and the interrupt handler
handler. The
interrupt handler will also use this variable. There is no need to populate the
members of this structure before it’s used, because the UART driver will perform this
task in the initialization.
- The uart_user_config_t variable is a structure that enables the configuration of the
most common settings of the UART. The members of this structure should be
populated before its first use as they define the communication settings to be used
by the peripheral.

• Once the uart_state_t

uart state t structure is created and the uart_user_config_t
uart user config t structure is created
and populated, it is time to call the driver initialization function. The driver initialization
function simply accepts as arguments an unsigned integer (uint32_t) that represents the
desired UART instance, the uart_state_t variable and the uart_user_config_t variable.

• After configuring the UART peripheral, simply use the UART_DRV_ReceiveDataBlocking

function to get data from the UART peripheral and the UART_DRV_SendDataBlocking to
send data to the UART peripheral. The SDK also includes non-blocking functions for
flexibility in your application.

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Finally, some frequently asked questions.

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UART FAQs

Question: What is the UART max baud rate?

Answer: The max baud rate varies by device, but can be calculated using the
following formula.

UART Max Baud Rate = (UART Module Clock Frequency) / 16

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This concludes our presentation on the UART module for Kinetis MCUs.

For more UART module references, please access tthe User’s Guides listed here.

We also invite you to visit us on the web at Freescale.com/Kinetis and check out our
Kinetis community page.

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