The Simple, Inexpensive Choice

Most PC serial devices such as mice, keyboards and modems are asynchronous. Asynchronous communication requires nothing more than a transmitter, a receiver and a wire. It is thus the simplest of serial communication protocols, and the least expensive to implement. As the name implies, asynchronous communication is performed between two (or more) devices which operate on independent clocks. Therefore, even if the two clocks agree for a time, there is no guarantee that they will continue to agree over extended periods, and thus there is no guarantee that when point A begins transmitting, point B will begin receiving, or that Point B will continue to sample at the rate Point A transmits. See the figure below for an illustration of what happens when transmission clocks differ significantly.

To combat this timing problem, asynchronous communication requires additional bits to be added around actual data in order to maintain signal integrity. Asynchronously transmitted data is preceded with a start bit which indicates to the receiver that a word (a chunk of data broken up into individual bits) is about to begin. To avoid confusion with other bits, the start bit is twice the size of any other bit in the transmission. The end of a word is followed by a stop bit, which tells the receiver that the word has come to an end, that it should begin looking for the next start bit, and that any bits it receives before getting the start bit should be ignored. To ensure data integrity, a parity bit is often added between the last bit of data and the stop bit. The parity bit makes sure that the data received is composed of the same number of bits in the same order in which they were sent. Use the link below to view a portrayal of how asynchronous communication works.

Asynchronous Serial Communication System Model

In asynchronous communication, data is preceded with a start bit which indicates to the receiver that a word (a chunk of data broken up into individual bits) is about to begin. To avoid confusion with other bits, the start bit is twice the size of any other bit in the transmission. The end of a word is followed by a stop bit, which tells the receiver that the word has come to an end, that it should begin looking for the next start bit, and that any bits it receives before getting the start bit should be ignored. To insure data integrity, a parity bit is often added between the last bit of data and the stop bit. The parity bit makes sure that the data received is composed of the same number of bits in the same order in which they were sent. See the diagram in Figure 11 for a portrayal of how asynchronous communication works.

Upgraded UARTs For Increased Performance

At the heart of every asynchronous serial system is the Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter or UART. The UART is responsible for implementing the asynchronous communication process described above as both a transmitter and a receiver (both encoding and decoding data frames). The UART not only controls the transfer of data, but the speed at which communication takes place. However, the first UARTs could only handle one byte of information at a time, which meant that the computer needed to immediately process any transmission or risk losing data as the next byte of information pushed its way onto the UART. Not only does this makes for unreliable and slow communication, it can slow down the entire system.

Improved UARTs, such as the 16750 UARTs, increase communication speed and lower system overhead by offering 64-byte FIFOs (first in first out buffers). With the 64-byte FIFO buffer, the UART can store enough information that the data stream need not be suspended while the computer is busy. This is particularly helpful in heavy multitasking operating systems such as Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP and OS/2.

Enhanced Serial Adapters for Even More Speed

Even with top of the line 16750 UARTs, a standard serial board with a standard 1.8432 MHz clock can only reach data transfer rates of 115.2 kbps. This is because the UART sets the baud rate by dividing down the clock frequency, and the lower the clock speed, the lower the possible data rate. An obvious solution to faster data rates is to simply get a faster clock--and many Quatech serial boards can be custom configured with upgraded crystals to achieve higher speeds. The other solution is to create a faster clock from the standard clock by multiplying its frequency. Quatech enhanced serial adapters do just that.

All Quatech PCI serial products are based on the enhanced design, as are some of the ISA and PCMCIA asynchronous serial boards. The standard clock rate on these boards can be multiplied by a factor of one, two, four, or eight by using jumper or software controls. High baud rates, up to 921.6 kbps, can be produced through a combination of changing the clock rate multiplier and the UART baud rate divisor (see chart below). For example, a baud rate of 230.4 kbps could be achieved by setting the clock rate multiplier to X2 and setting a software application for 115.2 kbps. However, because of the limitations of the 16-byte FIFOs on 16550 UARTs, 16750 UARTs will be needed to take full advantage of 4X and 8X clock multiplying.