The TX/RX serial lines are high when idle. Data starts with a START bit (high idle state deasserts, 1-->0) followed by 8 data bits. The least significant bit is sent first. If the parity feature is turned on then an odd or even parity bit follows after the data bits. Finally a STOP (1) bit completes one byte of data transfer.
{
signal: [
{ name: 'Baud Clock', wave: 'p............' },
{ name: 'tx', wave: '10333333331..', data: [ "lsb", "", "", "", "", "", "", "msb" ] },
{ name: 'Baud Clock', wave: 'p............' },
{ name: 'tx (w/ parity)', wave: '103333333341.', data: [ "lsb", "", "", "", "", "", "", "msb", "par" ] },
],
head: {
text: 'Serial Transmission Frame',
},
foot: {
text: 'start bit ("0") at cycle -1, stop bit ("1") at cycle 8, or after parity bit',
tock: -2
},
foot: {
text: [
'tspan',
['tspan', 'start bit '],
['tspan', {class:'info h4'}, '0'],
['tspan', ' at cycle -1, stop bit '],
['tspan', {class:'info h4'}, '1'],
['tspan', ' at cycle 8, or at cycle 9 after parity bit'],
],
tock: -2,
}
}
A write to WDATA enqueues a data byte into the 32 byte deep write FIFO, which
triggers the transmit module to start UART TX serial data transfer. The TX
module dequeues the byte from the FIFO and shifts it bit by bit out to the UART
TX pin on positive edges of the baud clock.
If TX is not enabled, written DATA into FIFO will be stacked up and sent out when TX is enabled.
When the FIFO becomes empty as part of transmission, a TX FIFO empty interrupt will be raised. This is separate from the TX FIFO water mark interrupt.
The RX module oversamples the RX input pin at 16x the requested
baud clock. When the input is detected low the receiver will check
half a bit-time later (i.e. 8 cycles of the oversample clock) that the
line is still low before detecting the START bit. If the line has
returned high the glitch is ignored. After it detects the START bit,
the RX module samples at the center of each bit-time and gathers
incoming serial bits into a character buffer. If the STOP bit is
detected as high and the optional parity bit is correct the data byte
is pushed into a 32 byte deep RX FIFO. The data can be read out by
reading RDATA register.
This behaviour of the receiver can be used to compute the approximate baud clock frequency error that can be tolerated between the transmitter at the other end of the cable and the receiver. The initial sample point is aligned with the center of the START bit. The receiver will then sample every 16 cycles of the 16 x baud clock, the diagram below shows the number of ticks after the centering that each bit is captured. Because of the frequency difference between the transmitter and receiver the actual sample point will drift compared to the ideal center of the bit. In order to correctly receive the STOP bit it must be sampled between the "early" and "late" points shown on the diagram, which are half a bit-time or 8 ticks of the 16x baud clock before or after the center. If the transmitter is considered "ideal" then the local clock must thus differ by no more than plus or minus 8 ticks in 144 or approximately +/- 5.5%. If parity is enabled the stop bit will be a bit time later, so this becomes 8/160 or about +/- 5%.
{
signal: [
{ name: 'Sample', wave: '', node: '..P............', period: "2" },
{},
{ name: 'rx',
wave: '1.0.3.3.3.3.3.3.3.3.1.0.3',
node: '...A................C.D..',
cdata: [ "idle", "start", "+16", "+32", "+48", "+64", "+80",
"+96", "+112", "+128", "+144", "next start" ] },
],
"edge" : ["P-|>A center", "P-|>C early", "P-|>D late"],
head: {
text: 'Receiver sampling window',
},
}
In practice, the transmitter and receiver will both differ from the ideal baud rate. Since the worst case difference for reception is 5%, the uart can be expected to work if both sides are within +/- 2.5% of the ideal baud rate.
The baud rate is set by writing to the CTRL.NCO register field. This should be
set using the equation below, where f_pclk is the system clock frequency
provided to the UART, and f_baud is the desired baud rate (in bits per second).
The formula above depends on the NCO CSR width. The logic creates a x16 tick when the NCO counter overflows. So, the computed baud rate from NCO value is below.
Note that the NCO result from the above formula can be a fraction but
the NCO register only accepts an integer value. This will create an
error if the baud rate is not divisible by the fixed clock frequency. As
discussed in the previous section the error rate between the receiver
and remote transmitter should be lower than 8 / 144 to latch a
correct character value when parity is not used and lower than 8 / 160 when parity is used. In the expectation that the device the other
side of the line behaves similarly, this requires each side have a
baud rate that is matched to within +/- 2.5% of the ideal baud
rate. The contribution to this error if NCO is rounded down to an
integer (which will make the actual baud rate always lower or equal to
the requested rate) can be computed from:
In this case if the resulting value of NCO is greater than $$ {1 \over 0.025} = 40 $$ then this will always be less than the 2.5% error target.
For NCO less than 40 the error in baud rate may or may not be acceptable and should be carefully checked and rounding to the nearest integer may achieve better results. If the computed value is close to an integer so that the error in the target range then the baud rate can be supported, however if it is too far off an integer then the baud rate cannot be supported. This check is needed when
Using rounded frequencies and common baud rates, this implies that care is needed for 9600 baud and below if the system clock is under 250MHz, with 4800 baud and below if the system clock is under 125MHz, 2400 baud and below if the system clock us under 63MHz, and 1200 baud and below if the system clock is under 32MHz.
UART module has a few interrupts including general data flow interrupts and unexpected event interrupts.
If the TX FIFO level becomes smaller than the TX water mark level (configurable via FIFO_CTRL.RXILVL and FIFO_CTRL.TXILVL), the tx_watermark interrupt is raised to inform SW.
If the RX FIFO level becomes greater than or equal to RX water mark level (configurable via FIFO_CTRL.RXILVL and FIFO_CTRL.TXILVL), the rx_watermark interrupt is raised to inform SW.
Note that the watermark interrupts are edge triggered events. This means the interrupt only triggers when the condition transitions from untrue->true. This is especially important in the tx_watermark case. When the TX FIFO is empty, it by default satisfies all the watermark conditions. In order for the interrupt to trigger then, it is required that software initiates a write burst that is greater than the programmed watermark value.
For example, assume TX watermark is programmed to be less than 4 bytes, and software programs one byte at a time, waits for it to finish transmitting, before supplying the next byte. Under these conditions, the TX watermark interrupt will never trigger because the size of the FIFO never exceeds the watermark level.
If TX FIFO becomes empty as part of transmit, the interrupt tx_empty is asserted.
The transmitted contents may be garbage at this point as old FIFO contents will likely be transmitted.
If RX FIFO receives an additional write request when its FIFO is full,
the interrupt rx_overflow is asserted and the character is dropped.
The rx_break_err interrupt is triggered if a break condition has
been detected. A break condition is defined as the RX pin being
continuously low for more than a programmable number of
character-times (via CTRL.RXBLVL, either 2, 4, 8, or 16). A
character time is 10 bit-times if parity is disabled (START + 8 data +
STOP) or 11 bit-times if parity is enabled (START + 8 data + parity +
STOP). If the UART is connected to an external connector this would
typically indicate the cable has been disconnected (or there is a
break in the wire). If the UART is connected to another part on the
same board it would typically indicate the other part has reset or
rebooted. (If the open connector or resetting peer part causes the RX
input to not be actively driven, then a pulldown resistor is needed to
ensure a break and a pullup resistor will ensure the line looks idle
and no break is generated.) Note that only one interrupt is generated
per break -- the line must return high for at least half a bit-time
before an additional break interrupt is generated. The current break
status can be read from the STATUS.BREAK bit. If STATUS.BREAK is set
but INTR_STATE.BREAK is clear then the line break has already caused
an interrupt that has been cleared but the line break is still going
on. If STATUS.BREAK is clear but INTR_STATE.BREAK is set then
there has been a line break for which software has not cleared the
interrupt but the line is now back to normal.
The rx_frame_err interrupt is triggered if the RX module receives the START
bit (0) and a series of data bits but did not detect the STOP bit
(1). This can happen because of noise affecting the line or if the
transmitter clock is fast or slow compared to the receiver. In a real frame
error the stop bit will be present just at an incorrect time so the line will
continue to signal both high and low. The start of a line break (described
above) matches a frame error with all data bits zero and one frame error
interrupt will be raised. If the line stays zero until the break error occurs,
the frame error will be set at every char-time. Frame errors will continue to
be reported after a break error.
{
signal: [
{ name: 'Baud Clock', wave: 'p............' },
{ name: 'rx', wave: '10333333330..', data: [ "lsb", "", "", "", "", "", "", "msb" ] },
{},
{ name: 'intr_rx_frame_err', wave: '0..........1.'},
],
head: {
text: 'Serial Receive with Framing Error',
},
foot: {
text: [
'tspan',
['tspan', 'start bit '],
['tspan', {class:'info h4'}, '0'],
['tspan', ' at cycle -1, stop bit '],
['tspan', {class:'error h4'}, '1'],
['tspan', ' missing at cycle 8'],
],
tock: -2,
}
}
The effects of the line being low for certain periods are summarized in the table:
| Line low (bit-times) | Frame Err? | Break? | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| <10 | If STOP=0 | No | Normal operation |
| 10 (with parity) | No | No | Normal zero data with STOP=1 |
| 10 (no parity) | Yes | No | Frame error since STOP=0 |
| 11 - RXBLVL*char | Yes | No | Break less than detect level |
| >RXBLVL*char | Yes | Once | Frame error signalled at every char-time, break at RXBLVL char-times |
The rx_timeout interrupt is triggered when the RX FIFO has data sitting in it
without software reading it for a programmable number of bit times (using the
baud rate clock as reference, programmable via TIMEOUT_CTRL). This is used to
alert software that it has data still waiting in the FIFO that has not been
handled yet. The timeout counter is reset whenever the FIFO depth is changed or
an rx_timeout event occurs. If the RX FIFO is full and new character is
received, it won't reset the timeout value. The software is responsible for
keeping the RX FIFO in the level below the watermark. The actual timeout time
can vary based on the reset of the timeout timer and the start of the
transaction. For instance, if the software resets the timeout timer by reading a
character from the RX FIFO and right after it there is a baud clock tick and the
start of a new RX transaction from the host, the timeout time is reduced by 1
and half baud clock periods.
The rx_parity_err interrupt is triggered if parity is enabled and
the RX parity bit does not match the expected polarity as programmed
in CTRL.PARITY_ODD.