EENG 383
Microcomputer Architecture and Interfacing
Fall 2015
Lab 8 – RS232 October 22, 2015
In this lab you will use the Serial Communications Interface (SCI) system on the HCS12
microcontroller to send and receive characters using the RS232 signal format. You will also
observe the transmission of RS232 characters on the oscilloscope.
1 PrelabQuestions(completepriortocomingtolab)
The standard 9-pin RS-232 connector has two rows of pins. The male connector on the PC is
shown in Figure 1(left) – this is the view looking at the pins. The female connector on the cable
that plugs into the male connector is shown in Figure 1(right).
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6
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7
4
8
5
5
9
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9
3
8
2
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1
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Figure 1 DB-9 RS-232 Connectors
Answer the following questions:
1. We will use the RS-232 signals called Tx (Transmitted data), Rx (Received data), and GND
(Signal ground). What pins are they on the standard 9-pin serial connector?
2. What are the ASCII codes for the first letters of the last names of the people on your team?
3. Write C statements to initialize the SCI system for 9600 baud (using the SCIBD register) and
turn on the transmitter and receiver (using the SCICR2 register).
2 RS232transmission
Get a serial cable with a 9-pin connector from the instructor. You will need a cable with a
connector on one end and bare wires on the other end; so that you can connect the oscilloscope
leads to those wires.
Find the wires corresponding to Tx and GND, and attach the oscilloscope leads to these wires.
Plug the end with the connector into your PC’s COM port and run the application called
“PuTTY”. Select “Serial” and a speed equal to 9600 bits per second.
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EENG 383
Microcomputer Architecture and Interfacing
Fall 2015
1. For each person on your team, take the first letter of their last name. Transmit that letter
continuously from the PC. Observe the transmitted signal on the oscilloscope. Capture an
oscilloscope image of what you observe. Be sure to label the time values and voltage values.
Also label where the start bit, stop bit, and data bits are located. Indicate the logic 1 or 0
values of the data bits and how they relate to the ASCII code for that letter.
2. By looking at the transmitted signal, determine what ASCII character is transmitted when
you press the ENTER key on the keyboard. Determine what ASCII character is transmitted
when you press the BACKSPACE key on the keyboard. Determine what ASCII characters
(there are more than one) are transmitted when you press the UP ARROW key on the
keyboard.
Sign-Off 1: Demonstrate your program and data waveforms to the instructor. Discuss the
ENTER, BACKSPACE and UP ARROW waveforms.
3 HeartbeatIndicator
As shown in the lecture slides, implement a program that uses the RTI system to flash an LED at
a rate of about 1 per second, using interrupts (i.e., it turns on the LED for one second, then turns
off for 1 second, and so forth). This is kind of a “heartbeat” indicator by which you can tell your
program is running. Keep the heartbeat indicator in place, while you are adding code to do
RS232 transmission and reception in parts 5 and 6.
Sign-Off 2: Demonstrate your program to the instructor.
2
EENG 383
Microcomputer Architecture and Interfacing
Fall 2015
4 “Run”mode
In order for your program to use the serial communication interface (SCI) system on the
microcontroller, you have to be in “Run” mode. This is done by changing switch SW1 on the
Nanocore module from the “Load” position to the “Run” position.
You will first download your program as usual using the CodeWarrior debugger. Once it is
downloaded you will then put switch SW1 into the “Run” position and hit the reset button on the
SSMI board. That will cause your program to start running instead of the monitor program, and
your program is free to use the serial port.
When in “Load” mode, one of the things that the monitor program does is to change the E-clock
frequency from 8 MHz to 24 MHz. So if you are in “Run” mode, you will have to do that
yourself at the beginning of your program. Just incorporate a call to the “initializePLL()”
routine that follows.
/*******************************************
Call this function to initialize the PLL, if the
RUN/LOAD switch is in RUN position. If you don't do
this, your clock will be at 8 MHz rather than 24 MHz.
It doesn’t even hurt to call it even if you are not going
to use RUN mode; you will just set the clock (again) to 24 MHz.
********************************************/
void initializePLL(void) {
CLKSEL_PLLSEL = 0; // turn off PLL for source clock
PLLCTL_PLLON = 1;
// turn on PLL
// Assuming OscFreq = $8000, we mult by synr+1=3 (to get 24MHz)
SYNR_SYN = 2;
// set PLL multiplier
REFDV_REFDV = 0;
// set PLL divider (divide by REFDV+1)
CRGFLG_LOCKIF = 1;
// clear the lock interrupt flag
while(!CRGFLG_LOCK){}// wait for the PLL to lock before continuing
CLKSEL_PLLSEL = 1;
// select the PLL for source clock
}
5 Sendingacharacter
Write a C program that initializes the SCI system to 9600 baud and turns on the transmitter and
receiver. Then your program should continuously transmit a character by repeatedly calling the
function “putcharSCI”, which is given below:
3
EENG 383
Microcomputer Architecture and Interfacing
Fall 2015
void putcharSCI(char c) {
// wait till transmit data register is empty
while (!(SCISR1 & 0x80))
;
SCIDRL = c;
// send character
}
Download the program onto the SSMI board, and then switch to “Run” mode. Close the
CodeWarrior debugger and start up the PuTTY application. Hit the reset button on the SSMI
board to cause your program to start running. Verify that you receive the characters on the
PuTTY terminal screen1.
Sign-Off 3: Demonstrate the program to the instructor.
6 Sendandreceive
Write a C function called “getcharSCI” that reads a character from the SCI port and returns
it. This function needs to wait until the receive data register is full; then it should return the
contents of the SCI data register.
Also write a C function “putstringSCI” that writes a character string to the SCI port. The
function takes a string as an input argument (which is just an array of characters). This function
should call “putcharSCI”, for each character in the string. Recall that in C, character strings
are terminated by the “null” character (i.e., a zero), so you should keep outputting characters
from the array until you reach a zero.
Finally, have your main program continuously read a character from the PC, and then print it
back to the PC in the form of a string, such as “Character received is xx (ASCII value yy)”,
where xx is the received character, and yy is its ASCII numeric code. You will have to use the
“sprintf” function from the LCD lab.
Sign-Off 4: Demonstrate the program to the instructor.
Include in your report:
1. The C language program, along with a corresponding flowchart or pseudo code.
2. An explanation of the circuit and program.
3. Why is the period of the “heartbeat indicator” unaffected by the processing time needed
to handle the RS232 communications?
1
If the received characters are wrong, try starting the PuTTY program before running the HCS12 program. If you
really understand RS232 communications, you will know why this will fix it (if not, ask the instructor!).
4
EENG 383
Microcomputer Architecture and Interfacing
Fall 2015
Lab 8: RS232 Name: ________________________________Name: ________________________________
Task Description Initials Sign-Off 1 RS232 Transmission
Sign-Off 2 Heartbeat Indicator
Sign-Off 3 Sending a Character
Sign-Off 4 Send and Receive
7 Rubric
Deliverables
C code with flowchart/pseudocode
Circuit and program Explanation
Composition
20 pts Pre-Lab
/ 10
Questions
/ 10 Demonstrations
5 pts
Total
/ 50 pts
5
5 pts
/5
20 pts
Sign-Off 1: RS232 Transmission
/3
Sign-Off 2: Heartbeat Indicator
/2
Sign-Off 3: Sending a Character
/7
Sign-Off 4: Send and Receive
/8