Serial and Parallel Transmission - Computer Science Engineering (CSE) PDF Download

SERIAL COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION

Serial communication is common method of transmitting data between a computer and a peripheral device such as a programmable instrument or even another computer. Serial communication transmits data one bit at a time, sequentially, over a single communication line to a receiver. Serial is also a most popular communication protocol that is used by many devices for instrumentation. This method is used when data transfer rates are very low or the data must be transferred over long distances and also where the cost of cable and synchronization difficulties makes parallel communication impractical. Serial communication is popular because most computers have one or more serial ports, so no extra hardware is needed other than a cable to connect the instrument to the computer or two computers together.

SERIAL AND PARALLEL TRANSMISSION

Let us now try to have a comparative study on parallel and serial communications to understand the differences and advantages & disadvantages of both in detail.

We know that parallel ports are typically used to connect a PC to a printer and are rarely used for other connections. A parallel port sends and receives data eight bits at a time over eight separate wires or lines. This allows data to be transferred very quickly. However, the setup looks more bulky because of the number of individual wires it must contain. But, in the case of a serial communication, as stated earlier, a serial port sends and receives data, one bit at a time over one wire. While it takes eight times as long to transfer each byte of data this way, only a few wires are required. Although this is slower than parallel communication, which allows the transmission of an entire byte at once, it is simpler and can be used over longer distances. So, at first sight it would seem that a serial link must be inferior to a parallel one, because it can transmit less data on each clock tick. However, it is often the case that, in modern technology, serial links   can   be   clocked   considerably   faster   than   parallel   links,   and   achieves   a   higher   data    rate.

Parallel Transmission                                                 Serial Transmission

Even in shorter distance communications, serial computer buses are becoming more common because of a tipping point where the disadvantages of parallel busses (clock skew, interconnect density) outweigh their advantage of simplicity. The serial port on your PC is a fullduplex device meaning that it can send and receive data at the same time. In order to be able to do this, it uses separate lines for transmitting and receiving data.

From the above discussion we could understand that serial communications have many advantages over parallel one like:

• Requires fewer interconnecting cables and hence occupies less space.
• "Cross talk" is less of an issue, because there are fewer conductors compared to that of parallel communication cables.
• Many IC s and peripheral devices have serial interfaces.
• Clock skew between different channels is not an issue.
• Cheaper to implement.

Clock skew:

Clock skew is a phenomenon in synchronous circuits in which the clock signal sent from the clock circuit arrives at different components at different times, which can be caused by many things, like:

• Wire-interconnect length
• Temperature variations
• Variation in intermediate devices
• capacitive coupling
• Material imperfections

SERIAL DATA TRANSMISSION MODES

When data is transmitted between two pieces of equipment, three communication modes of operation can be used.

Simplex: In a simple connection, data is transmitted in one direction only. For example, from a computer to printer that cannot send status signals back to the computer.

Half-duplex: In a half-duplex connection, two-way transfer of data is possible, but only in one direction at a time.

Full duplex: In a full-duplex configuration, both ends can send and receive data simultaneously, which technique is common in our PCs.

SERIAL DATA TRANSFERSCHEMS

Like any data transfer methods, Serial Communication also requires coordination between the sender and receiver. For example, when to start the transmission and when to end it, when one particular bit or byte ends and another begins, when the receiver's capacity has been exceeded, and so on. Here comes the need for synchronization between the sender and the receiver. A protocol defines the specific methods of coordinating transmission between a sender and receiver. For example a serial data signal between two PCs must have individual bits and bytes that the receiving PC can distinguish. If it doesn't, then the receiving PC can't tell where one byte ends and the next one begin or where one bit ends and begins. So the signal must be synchronized in such a way that the receiver can distinguish the bits and bytes as the transmitter intends them to be distinguished.

There are two ways to synchronize the two ends of the communication.

1.  Synchronous data transmission
2. Asynchronous data transmission

 Synchronous Data Transmission

The synchronous signaling methods use two different signals. A pulse on one signal line indicates when another bit of information is ready on the other signal line.

In synchronous transmission, the stream of data to be transferred is encoded and sent on one line, and a periodic pulse of voltage which is often called the "clock" is put on another line, that tells the receiver about the beginning and the ending of each bit.

Advantages: The only advantage of synchronous data transfer is the Lower overhead and thus, greater throughput, compared to asynchronous one.

Disadvantages:

• Slightly more complex
• Hardware is more expensiv

Asynchronous data transmission

The asynchronous signaling methods use only one signal. The receiver uses transitions on that signal to figure out the transmitter bit rate (known as auto baud) and timing. A pulse from the local clock indicates when another bit is ready. That means synchronous transmissions use an external clock, while asynchronous transmissions are use special signals along the transmission medium. Asynchronous communication is the commonly prevailing communication method in the personal computer industry,   due to the reason that it is easier to implement and has the unique advantage that bytes can be sent whenever they are ready, a no  need to wait for blocks of data to accumulate .

Advantages:

• Simple and doesn't require much synchronization on both communication sides.
• The timing is not as critical as for synchronous transmission; therefore hardware can be made cheaper.
• Set-up is very fast, so well suited for applications where messages are generated at  irregular intervals, for example data entry from the keyboard.

Disadvantages: 

One of the main disadvantages of asynchronous technique is the large relative overhead, where a high proportion of the transmitted bits are uniquely for control purposes and thus carry no useful information.