Lecture 3’s sequence

3.1 Serial communica on ─ The basics

3.2 Serial communication in ATmega16

Review of C Programming

3.3 Example application & Debugging tool

Serial communica on─ The basics

 Computers transfer data in two ways: parallel and serial:

 Parallel: Several data bits are transferred simultaneously, e.g., to printers and hard disks

 Serial: A single data bit is transferred at one time

 Advantages of serial communication: longer distances, easier to synchronize, fewer IO

pins, and lower cost.

 Serial communication often requires:

 Shift registers: convert a byte to serial bits and vice versa

 Modems: modulate/demodulate serial bits to/from audio tones

Synchronous versus asynchronous

 Synchronous serial communication:

 The clocks of the sender and receiver are synchronized
 A block of characters, enclosed by synchronizing bytes, is sent at a time
 Faster transfer and less overhead
 Examples: serial peripheral interface (SPI) by Motorola, binary synchronous communication
(BISYNC) by IBM.

 Asynchronous serial communication:

 The clocks of the sender and receiver are not synchronized
 One character (usually 8 bits) is sent at a time, enclosed between a start bit and one or two
stop bits. A parity bit may be included
 Examples: RS-232 by Electronic Industries Alliance, USART of ATmega16
Data framing examples

BISYNC Control Characters

Data Framing in Synchronous BISYNC
SYN (16h): synchronization
SYN SYN STX DATA FIELD ETX BCC PAD STX (02h): start of text
ETX (03h): end of text
BCC: block checksum char
PAD (FFh): end of frame block

Data Framing in Asynchronous Transmission parity bit

1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Receiver

start bit (0) LSB MSB stop bits (1)

Sending character “A” (41h = 0100 0001)
8-bit data, 1 start bit, 2 stop bits, even-parity
Serial communication terminology

 Baud rate: The number of bits sent per second (bps). Strictly speaking, it is the
number of signal changes per second.
 Parity bit: A single bit for error checking, sent with data bits to make the total
number of 1’s.
 even (for even parity), or
 odd (for odd parity)

 Start bit: to indicate the start of a character. Its typical value is 0

 Stop bit: to indicate the end of a character. Its typical value is 1
RS-232 standard

 The RS-232 (latest revision RS-232E) is a widely used standard for serial
interfacing.

 It covers four main aspects:

 Electrical: voltage level, rise and fall time, data rate, distance

 Functional: function of each signal

 Mechanical: number of pins, shape & dimension of connectors

 Procedural: sequence of events for transmitting data

RS-232 standard

 It defines 25-pin D connectors, but 9-pin connectors are often used.

 RS-232 specifies the baud rate up to 20Kbps, and the cable length up to 15m.
In practice, it supports up to 56Kbps & 30m of shielded cables.

Male DB9 connector Female DB9 connector

RS-232 standard

Pin Name Description  Data Terminal Equipment (DTE)

essentially refers to the computer.
1 CD Carrier Detect DCE has detected a carrier tone
2 RXD Received Data Incoming data from DCE
 Data Communication Equipment
(DCE) essentially refers to a remote
3 TXD Transmit Data Outgoing data to DCE device or modem.
4 DTR Data Terminal Ready DTE is connected and turned on
 These terms are needed to explain
5 GND Ground the pin functions.
6 DSR Data Set Ready DCE is connected and turned on
7 RTS Request To Send DTE has data to send
8 CTS Clear To Send DCE can receive data
9 RI Ring Indicator Synchronized with the phone’s ringing tone
Modem connection

Computer A Modem A Modem B Computer A

DTE DCE DCE DTE

 RS-2322 was originally used with modems to connect two PCs over the public phone lines
 When Computer A has data to send, it assert its RTS pin
 Modem A will assert its CTS when it is ready to receive
 Computer A transmits data through its TXD
Null-modem connection

Full handshaking cable Simple cable

 RS-232 is now mainly used to connect a microcontroller with PC or peripheral devices (e.g.,
GPS receiver, infrared range finder, camera).

 This configuration is known as null-modem:

 Connect pin TXD of a DTE with pin RXD of the other DTE
 Wire other pins to support flow control
RS-232 interface and MAX232 chip

 Compared to TTL in computer

Logic RS-232 levels TTL levels
electronics, RS-232 interface uses
1 [-12V, -3V] [+2V, +5V]
different voltage levels
0 [+3V, +12V] [0V, +0.8V]
 A level converter is required
between RS-232 interface and
TXD/RXD pins of microcontroller

 MAX232 chip is often used for

this purpose
Lecture 3’s sequence

3.1 Serial communica on ─ The basics

3.2 Serial communication in ATmega16

Review of C Programming

3.3 Example application & Debugging tool

Serial communication in ATmega16

 ATmega16 has 3 subsystems for serial communication:

 Universal Synchronous & Asynchronous Receiver & Transmitter (USART)

 Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)

 Two-wire Serial Interface (TWI)

 USART:
 We focus on this subsystem in this lecture

 Supports full-duplex mode between two devices

 Typically used in asynchronous communication

 Start bit and stop bit are used for each byte of data
Serial communication in ATmega16

 Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI):

 The receiver and transmitter share a common clock line

 The transmitter is treated as the master, the receiver as the slave

 SPI supports higher data rates

 Examples: liquid crystal display, high-speed ADC

 Two-wire Serial Interface (TWI):

 For connecting several devices, e.g., microcontrollers and display boards, using a two-wire bus

 Each device has a unique address and can exchange data with other devices in a small network

 Up to 128 devices are supported

Serial USART ─ An overview

 USART of the ATmega16 supports:

 baud rates from 960bps to 57.6kbps

 character size: 5 to 9 bits

 1 start bit

 1 or 2 stop bits

 optional parity bit (even or odd parity)

 Common baud rates are 19200, 9600,

4800, 2400, and 1200 bps
Serial USART ─ An overview

c) Register UBRR
to set baud rate

d) Register UDR to store a) TxD and RxD pins

the sent/received byte to another device

b) Registers to configure/
monitor USART
Serial USART ─ Hardware elements

 USART Clock Generator:

 to provide clock source
 to set baud rate using UBRR register

 USART Transmitter:
 to send a character through TxD pin
 to handle start/stop bit framing, parity bit, shift register

 USART Receiver:
 to receive a character through RxD pin
 to perform the reverse operation of the transmitter

 USART Registers:
 to configure, control and monitor the serial USART
Serial USART ─ Three groups of registers

 USART Baud Rate Registers:

 UBRRH and UBRRL

 USART Control and Status Registers:

 UCSRA
 UCSRB
 UCSRC

 USART Data Registers:

 UDR

 Understanding these registers is essential in using the serial port. Therefore, we’ll
study these registers in depth.
USART Baud Rate Registers : UBRR

 Two 8-bit registers together define the baud rate:

( )
=
( + )
( )
⇒ = −

 Example: Find UBRR registers for baud rate of 1200 bps assuming system clock is 1MHz:
 UBRR = 1000000/(16 × 1200) ─ 1 = 51d = 0033H
 Therefore, UBRRH = 00H and UBRRL = 33H
 C code: UBRRH = 0x00; UBRRL = 0x33;
USART Control and Status Register A: UCSRA

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
RXC TXC UDRE FE DOR PE U2X MPCM

1 to enable multi-processor com mode

1 to double the transmission speed

1 when there is Parity Error

1 when there is Data Over Run

1 when there is Frame Error

1 when USART Data Register is Empty

1 when no new data in transmit buffer (TX Complete)

1 when receive buffer has unread data (RX Complete)

USART Control and Status Register B: UCSRB

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
RXCIE TXCIE UDRIE RXEN TXEN UCSZ2 RXB8 TXB8

Tx extra data bit for 9-bit character size

Rx extra data bit for 9-bit character size

bit UCSZ2 to decide character size

1 to enable USART transmitter: Pin D.1 = TXD pin

1 to enable USART receiver: Pin D 0 = RXD pin

1 to enable USART Data Register Empty Interrupt

1 to enable TX Complete Interrupt, valid only if Global Interrupt Flag = 1 and TXC = 1

1 to enable RX Complete Interrupt, valid only if Global Interrupt Flag = 1 and RXC = 1
USART Control and Status Register C: UCSRC

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
URSEL UMSEL UPM1 UPM0 USBS UCSZ1 UCSZ0 UCPOL

Clock polarity, used with synchronous

Used with UCSZ2 to select character size

To select stop bit modes: 0 -> 1 stop bit, 1 -> 2 stop bits

To select parity mode: 00 no parity, 10 - even party, 11 - odd parity

To select USART modes: 0 - asynchronous, 1 - synchronous

Must be set to 1 to write to UCSRC. (Note: UCSRC and UBRRH share same location)
Setting character size

 Character size (5 to 9) is determined by three bits: UCSZ2, UCSZ1, UCSZ0

RXCIE TXCIE UDRIE RXEN TXEN UCSZ2 RXB8 TXB8 UCSRB

URSEL UMSEL UPM1 UPM0 USBS UCSZ1 UCSZ0 UCPOL UCSRC

UCSZ2 UCSZ1 UCSZ0 Character Size

0 0 0 5-bit
0 0 1 6-bit
0 1 0 7-bit
0 1 1 8-bit
1 0 0 Reserved
1 0 1 Reserved
1 1 0 Reserved
1 1 1 9-bit
USART Data Register : UDR

 Register UDR is the buffer for characters sent or received through the serial port.

 To start sending a character, we write it to UDR:

UDR = 'a'; // start sending character ‘a’

 To process a received character, we read it from UDR:

unsigned char data;
data = UDR; // this read will clear UDR
Serial USART ─ Main tasks

 There are 4 main tasks in using the serial port:

 Initializing the serial port
 Sending a character
 Receiving a character
 Sending/receiving a formatted string
Initializing serial port

begin

Set USART for asynchronous mode

Set USART communication parameters

(data bits, stop bit, parity bit)

Set baud rate

Enable transmitter and receiver

end
Ini alizing serial port ─ Example

Initialize serial port of ATmega16 to baud rate 1200 bps, no parity, 1 stop bit 8
data bits. Assume a clock speed of 1MHz.
void USART_init(void) {
// Asynchronous mode, no parity, 1 stop bit, 8 data bits
UCSRC = 0b10000110;

// Normal speed, disable multi-proc

UCSRA = 0b00000000;

// Baud rate 1200bps, assuming 1MHz clock

UBRRL = 0x33;
UBRRH = 0x00;

// Enable Tx and Rx, disable interrupts

UCSRB = 0b00011000;
}
Sending a character

begin

No Has UDRE flag been set to 1?

(register UCSRA)

Yes

Write the character to register

UDR for transmission

end
Sending a character ─ Example

Write a C function to send a character through ATmega16 serial port.

void USART_send(unsigned char data) {
// Wait until UDRE flag = 1
while ((UCSRA & (1<<UDRE)) == 0x00){;}
// Write char to UDR for transmission
UDR = data;
}

UCSRA RXC TXC UDRE PE DOR PE U2X MPCM

Constant UDRE is defined in avr/io.h

1<<UDRE 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
#define UDRE 5

Bit-wise AND returns zero if bit

bit-wise AND 0 0 UDRE 0 0 0 0 0 at position UDRE is 0
Receiving a character

begin

No Has RXC flag been set to 1?

(register UCSRA)

Yes

Read the received character

from register UDR

end
Receiving a character ─ Example

Write a C function to receive a character via ATmega16 serial port.

unsigned char USART_receive(void) {
// Wait until RXC flag = 1
while ((UCSRA & (1<<RXC)) == 0x00) {;}
// Read the received char from UDR
return (UDR);
}

UCSRA RXC TXC UDRE PE DOR PE U2X MPCM

Constant RXC is defined in avr/io.h

1<<RXC 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
#define RXC 7

Bit-wise AND returns zero if bit at

bit-wise AND RXC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
position RXC is 0
Sending/receiving a formatted string

 In ANSI C, the header file <stdio.h> has two functions for formatted strings:
printf and scanf.
 Function printf sends a formatted string to the standard output device, which is
usually the video display.
first = 2, second = 3, sum = 5
unsigned char a, b;
a = 2; b = 3;
printf("first = %d, second = %d, sum = %d", a, b, a + b);

 Function scanf reads a formatted string from the standard input device, which is
usually the keyboard.
unsigned char a, b;
scanf("%d %d", &a, &b); // get integers a, b from input string
Sending/receiving a formatted strings

 Being able to send/receive formatted strings through a serial port is useful in

microcontroller applications.

 To this end, we configure the serial port as the standard input and output
devices.

 General steps:
1) Write two functions to send and receive a character via serial port.
2) In main(), call fdevopen() to set the two functions as the handlers for standard output
and input devices.
3) Use printf/scanf as usual. Formatted strings will be sent/received via serial port.
Sending/receiving a forma ed strings ─ Example

#include <avr/io.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int serial_send(char c, FILE *stream) {

// wait until UDRE flag is set to logic 1
while ((UCSRA & (1<<UDRE)) == 0x00){;}
UDR = c; // Write character to UDR for transmission
}

int serial_receive(FILE *stream) {

// wait until RXC flag is set to logic 1
while ((UCSRA & (1<<RXC)) == 0x00) {;}
return (UDR); // Read the received character from UDR
}

int main(void) {
unsigned char a;
// ... Code to initialize baud rate, TXD, RXD, and so on is not shown here
// Initialize the standard IO handlers
stdout = fdevopen(serial_send, NULL);
stdin = fdevopen(NULL, serial_receive);

// Start using printf, scanf as usual

while (1) {
printf("\n\rEnter a = ");
scanf("%d", &a); printf("%d", a);
}
}
Sending/receiving a forma ed strings ─ Example
Lecture 3’s sequence

3.1 Serial communica on ─ The basics

3.2 Serial communication in ATmega16

Review of C Programming

3.3 Example application & Debugging tool

Lecture 3’s references

 M. Mazidi, J. Mazidi, R. McKinlay, “The 8051 microcontroller and embedded systems

using assembly and C,” 2nd ed., Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, [Chapters 10]

 M. Mazidi and J. Mazidi, “The 8086 IBM PC and compatible computers,” 4th ed.,
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2003, [Chapters 17]

 P. Spasov, “Microcontroller technology the 68HC11,” 3rd ed., Prentice Hall 1999,
[Chapters 10]

 H Huang . Huang, “MC68HC12 an introduction: software and hardware interfacing,”

Thomson Delmar Learning, 2003, [Chapter 9]