Energy Efficient - Digital Serial Interfaces

ENERGY EFFICIENT

DIGITAL SERIAL INTERFACES

 K.NITHIYANANTHAN +& PRIYANKA MANI* 

+KARPAGAM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

INDIA

*PG STUDENT MIT BOSTON

DUBAI

UAE

Chapter 1

PORTS

1.1 Introduction

Ports are very important part for a system as they work as an interface between your system and other devices that you want to attach to your system. This piece of equipment is easy to find in all the systems as it allows you to plug other devices in it. When you connect a new device with the help of any port, then signals starts flowing through the system to device and your device starts working in conjunction with your system, according to your commands. Mainly these ports are divided into two types, and then further subtypes are counted in its series. Two main types of ports are male and female which are popularly known as serial and parallel ports. Female ports are most popularly used because bent pins are easier to replace on a cable than on a connector attached to a computer. With passage of time, new technologies are being incorporated with old ones and are bringing more and more users to avail the chance of using the best gifts of technology. Just like that, new kinds of ports are also becoming popular with new devices. Some of famous and new kinds of ports are given as below.

1.2 Types of Ports

• PS/2 Ports are the most simple and oldest type of ports, and are still available in the market for various systems. These are 6-pin, low-speed serial connection ports, which are mostly used with mouse and keyboards. In systems,  two ports of this kind are found. Although they look similar, but they are not interchangeable. It is important to be extremely careful while attaching the keyboard and mouse to their respective PS/2 port.
• VGA Monitor Port is used to display Video Graphics Array in your system. This port uses an analog monitor, which forwards signals to the display adapter. All monitors and LCDs accept these signals, but some flat displays prefer to use digital signal interface.  VGA resolution typically refers to the original resolution of 640×480 pixels and 16 colors, but it is not the preferred choice for small monitors or displays.
• USB ports are popular now as they have replaced many old ports in systems now. They have taken the place of old printer hook-ups, and these port are also providing additional ways to transfer data and add accessories to a system. Flash drives are the biggest examples for these ports, which are connected through these ports only. These ports are also helping Smartphone users, as they can now transfer data very easily from computers to their phones.
• Serial ports are designed to handle all processes of a system. This port consists of 9 to 24 pins and is able to send data in the range of more than 18 feet. Serial ports have the ability to do one and two way data transmissions with complete responsibility.
• Parallel ports consist of 25 holes or pins and commonly connect the devices to the system. Performance capability of these ports is much faster as compared to serial ports and other types of ports. These ports have a built-in mother board and consist of 25 wires, 8 of which are responsible for the transfer data and the control of the complete circuit.
• RJ45 Ethernet Port is known to be used for connecting your system with local area networks. It looks like the connector of telephones but is a little wider as compared to that.

Besides the ones mentioned above some popular ports include input, output, audio, video, network etc, along with many other types of ports that are used to attach to a system. All of them are known to perform their functions accurately and efficiently in a computer system. Users can easily choose from amongst them, according to type of hardware that has to be connected to the computer.

1.3 Serial Communications

In telecommunication and data transmission, serial communication is the process of sending data one bit at a time, sequentially, over a communication channel or computer bus. This is in contrast to parallel communication, where several bits are sent as a whole, on a link with several parallel channels. Serial communication is used for all long-haul communications and in most computer networks, where the cost of cable is high and there are synchronization difficulties, making parallel communication impractical. Serial computer buses are becoming more common even at shorter distances, as improved signal integrity and transmission speeds in newer serial technologies have begun to outweigh the parallel bus's advantage of simplicity (no need for serializer and deserializer, or SerDes) and to outstrip its disadvantages (clock skew, interconnect density). The migration from PCI to PCI.