home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
-
-
- ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EACH CIRCUIT
-
- The following criteria apply to the electrical characteristics of each of the
- above lines:
-
- 1) The magnitude of an open circuit voltage shall not exceed 25V.
-
- 2) The driver shall be able to sustain a short to any other wire in the
- cable without damage to itself or to the other equipment, and the short
- circuit current shall not exceed 0.5 ampere.
-
- 3) Signals shall be considered in the MARK (logic 1) state when the
- voltage is more negative than -3V with respect to the Signal Ground.
- Signals shall be considered in the SPACE (logic 0) state when the
- voltage is more positive that 3V with respect to the Signal Ground.
- The range between -3V and 3V is defined as the transition region,
- within which the signal state is not defined.
-
- 4) The load impedance shall have a DC resistance of less than 7000 ohms
- when measured with an applied voltage of from 3V to 25V but more than
- 3000 ohms when measured with a voltage of less than 25V.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 5) When the terminator load resistance meets the requirements of Rule 4
- above, and the terminator open circuit voltage is 0V, the magnitude of
- the potential of that circuit with respect to Signal Ground will be in
- the 5V to 15V range.
-
- 6) The driver shall assert a voltage between -5V and -15V relative
- to the signal ground to represent a MARK signal condition. The
- driver shall assert a voltage between 5V and 15V relative to the
- Signal Ground to represent a SPACE signal condition. Note that
- this rule in conjunction with Rule 3 above allows for 2V of noise
- margin. Note also that in practice, -12V and 12V are typically used.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 7) The driver shall change the output voltage at a rate not exceeding
- 30 volts per microsecond, but the time required for the signal to pass
- through the -3V to +3V transition region shall not exceed 1 millisecond,
- or 4 percent of a bit time, whichever is smaller.
-
- 8) The shunt capacitance of the terminator shall not exceed 2500
- picofarads, including the capacitance of the cable. Note that when
- using standard cable with 40 to 50 picofarads per foot capacitance,
- this limits the cable length to no more than 50 feet. Lower capaci-
- tance cable allows longer runs.
-
- 9) The impedance of the driver circuit under power-off conditions shall be
- greater than 300 ohms.
-
- Note that two widely available integrated circuit chips (1488 and 1489)
- implement TTL to RS232 drivers (4 per chip), and RS232 receivers to TTL
- (also 4 per chip), in a manner consistent with all of the above rules.
-
-
-
-
-
- DEFINITION OF THE MOST COMMON CIRCUITS
-
- 1 CG Chassis Ground
-
- This circuit (also called Frame Ground) is a mechanism to insure that the
- chassis of the two devices are at the same potential, to prevent electrical
- shock to the operator. Note that this circuit is not used as the reference
- for any of the other voltages. This circuit is optional. If it is used,
- care should be taken to not set up ground loops.
-
- 2 TD Transmit Data
-
- This circuit is the path whereby serial data is sent from the DTE to the
- DCE. This circuit must be present if data is to travel in that direction at
- any time.
-
- 3 RD Receive Data
-
- This circuit is the path whereby serial data is sent from the DCE to the
- DTE. This circuit must be present if data is to travel in that direction at
- any time.
-
-
-
-
-
- 4 RTS Request To Send
-
- This circuit is the signal that indicates that the DTE wishes to send
- data to the DCE (note that no such line is available for the opposite
- direction, hence the DTE must always be ready to accept data). In normal
- operation, the RTS line will be OFF (logic 1 / MARK). Once the DTE has
- data to send, and has determined that the channel is not busy, it will
- set RTS to ON (logic 0 / SPACE), and await an ON condition on CTS from the
- DCE, at which time it may then begin sending. Once the DTE is through
- sending, it will reset RTS to OFF (logic 1 / MARK). On a full-duplex
- or simplex channel, this signal may be set to ON once at initializa-
- tion and left in that state. Note that some DCEs must have an incoming
- RTS in order to transmit (although this is not strictly according to the
- standard). In this case, this signal must either be brought across from
- the DTE, or provided by a wraparound (e.g. from DSR) locally at the DCE end
- of the cable.
-
-
-
-
- 5 CTS Clear To Send
-
- This circuit is the signal that indicates that the DCE is ready to accept
- data from the DTE. In normal operation, the CTS line will be in the OFF
- state. When the DTE asserts RTS, the DCE will do whatever is necessary to
- allow data to be sent (e.g. a modem would raise carrier, and wait until
- it stabilized). At this time, the DCE would set CTS to the ON state, which
- would then allow the DTE to send data. When the RTS from the DTE returns to
- the OFF state, the DCE releases the channel (e.g. a modem would drop
- carrier), and then set CTS back to the OFF state. Note that a typical DTE
- must have an incoming CTS before it can transmit. This signal must either
- be brought over from the DCE, or provided by a wraparound (e.g. from
- DTR) locally at the DTE end of the cable.
-
- 6 DSR Data Set Ready
-
- This circuit is the signal that informs the DTE that the DCE is alive and
- well. It is normally set to the ON state by the DCE upon power-up and left
- there. Note that a typical DTE must have an incoming DSR in order to
- function normally. This line must either be brought over from the DCE,
- or provided by a wraparound (e.g. from DTR) locally at the DTE end of the
- cable. On the DCE end of the interface, this signal is almost always
- present, and may be wrapped back around (to DTR and/or RTS) to satisfy
- required signals whose normal function is not required.
-
-
-
-
- 7 SG Signal Ground
-
- This circuit is the ground to which all other voltages are relative. It
- must be present in any RS-232 interface.
-
- 8 DCD Data Carrier Detect
-
- This circuit is the signal whereby the DCE informs the DTE that it has an
- incoming carrier. It may be used by the DTE to determine if the channel
- is idle, so that the DTE can request it with RTS. Note that some DTEs
- must have an incoming DCD before they will operate. In this case, this
- signal must either be brought over from the DCE, or provided locally by a
- wraparound (e.g. from DTR) locally at the DTE end of the cable.
-
- 15 TC Transmit Clock
-
- This circuit provides the clock for the transmitter section of a synchro-
- nous DTE. It may or may not be running at the same rate as the receiver
- clock. This circuit must be present on synchronous interfaces.
-
-
-
-
- 17 RC Receiver Clock
-
- This circuit provides the clock for the receiver section of a synchronous
- DTE. It may of may not be running at the same rate as the transmitter clock.
- Note that both TC and RC are sourced by the DCE. This circuit must be
- present on synchronous interfaces.
-
- 20 DTR Data Terminal Ready
-
- This circuit provides the signal that informs the DCE that the DTE is
- alive and well. It is normally set to the ON state by the DTE at power-up
- and left there. Note that a typical DCE must have an incoming DTR
- before it will function normally. This signal must either be brought over
- from the DTE, or provided by a wraparound (e.g. from DSR) locally at the
- DCE end of the cable. On the DTE side of the interface, this signal is
- almost always present, and may be wrapped back around to other circuits (e.g.
- DSR, CTS and/or DCD) to satisfy required hand-shaking signals if their
- normal function is not required.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Note that in an asynchronous channel, both ends provide their own internal
- timing, which (as long as they are within 5% of each other) is sufficient for
- them to agree when the bits occur within a single character. In this case,
- no timing information need be sent over the interface between the two
- devices. In a synchronous channel, however, both ends must agree when the
- bits occur over possibly thousands of characters. In this case, both devices
- must use the same clocks. Note that the transmitter and receiver may be
- running at different rates. Note also that BOTH clocks are provided by
- the DCE. When one has a synchronous terminal tied into a synchronous port
- on a computer via two synchronous modems, for example, and the terminal is
- transmitting, the terminal's modem supplies the Transmit Clock, which is
- brought directly out to the terminal at its end, and encodes the clock with
- the data, sends it to the computer's modem, which recovers the clock and
- brings it out as the Receive Clock to the computer. When the computer
- is transmitting, the same thing happens in the other direction. Hence,
- whichever modem is transmitting must supply the clock for that direction,
- but on each end, the DCE device supplies both clocks to the DTE device.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- All of the above applies to interfacing a DTE device to a DCE device. In
- order to interface two DTE devices, it is usually sufficient to provide a
- 'flipped' cable, in which the pairs (TD, RD), (RTS,CTS) and (DTR,DSR) have
- been flipped. Hence, the TD of one DTE is connected to the RD of the other
- DTE, and vica versa. It may be necessary to wrap various of the
- hand-shaking lines back around from the DTR on each end in order to have
- both ends work. In a similar manner, two DCE devices can be interfaced to
- each other.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- An RS-232 'break-out box' is particularly useful in solving interfacing
- problems. This is a device which is inserted between the DTE and DCE.
- Firstly, it allows you to monitor the state of the various hand-shaking
- lines (light on = signal ON / logic 0), and watch the serial data flicker on
- TD and/or RD. Secondly, it allows you to break the connection on one or
- more of the lines (with dip-switches), and make any kind of
- cross-connections and/or wraparounds (with jumper wires). Using this, it is
- fairly easy to determine which line(s) are not functioning as required, and
- quickly build a prototype of a cable that will serve to interface the
- two devices. At this point, the break-out box can be removed and a real
- cable built that performs the same function. An example of this kind of
- device is the International Data Sciences, Inc. Model 60 'Modem and Terminal
- Interface Pocket Analyzer' (also called a 'bluebox'). Care should be taken
- with this type of device to connect the correct end of it to the DTE
- device, or the lights and switches do not correspond to the actual
- signals.
-