standard for serial communication
Factsheet
EIA-232 Standard Interconnection of Data Terminal Equipment with a Communications Channel
Status Active
Year started 1960 (66 years ago) (1960)
EIA-232 Standard Interconnection of Data Terminal Equipment with a Communications Channel
Status Active
Year started 1960 (66 years ago) (1960)
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › RS-232
RS-232 - Wikipedia
1 week ago - It formally defines signals connecting between a DTE (data terminal equipment) such as a computer terminal or PC, and a DCE (data circuit-terminating equipment or data communication equipment), such as a modem. The standard defines the electrical characteristics and timing of signals, the meaning of signals, and the physical size and pinout of connectors. The current version of the standard is TIA-232-F Interface Between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment Employing Serial Binary Data Interchange, issued in 1997.
CircuitDigest
circuitdigest.com › article › rs232-serial-communication-protocol-basics-specifications
RS232 Serial Communication Protocol: Complete Guide, Pinout & Applications (2025)
May 29, 2025 - Originally developed in 1962 by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA), RS232 defined the interface between Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) and Data Communication Equipment (DCE) for serial binary data interchange.
Understanding serial communication
Understanding this is a good start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model Some standards refer to different "layers" of communications - sometimes it's electrical, sometimes it's data format, sometimes it's some combination that spans layers. A lot of words get used interchangeably - but then most of the time that's because it doesn't actually matter what you call it, everyone knows what you mean. More on reddit.com
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January 25, 2023RS232 Serial Port: 7 Facts You Need to Know before Using - Knowledge Base - AV Access Community
In our new blog, we will explore what RS232 is, how it works, what it is used for, its advantages and disadvantages, and the different types of RS232 cables available. What Is RS232? RS232 is a standard communication protocol that defines the electrical and physical characteristics of a serial ... More on community.avaccess.com
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March 21, 2023RS232 serial communication two-way - best practice
RS232 is full duplex as you have a dedicated rx and tx line. More on reddit.com
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December 7, 2024RS232 serial communication - two way best practice
Unless the old equipment uses the handshaking lines (e.g. RTD, DTR etc) and you can receive and process the replies (e.g. CTS) there isn't much more that you can do beyond sending the data As for receiving it: if (Serial1.available()) { char ch = Serial1.read(); // do stuff with ch - ideally accumulate it in a buffer // don't use getting which is blocking } // do other stuff as required. Oh, yes, ideally look for a platform that has a spare USART to receive your serial data. Pretty much anything than an Uno R3 will meet that criteria. But even on an uno, you can use SoftwareSerial, which is OK, but not for high speeds or medium to high volumes of data. For example, I tried SoftwareSerial on an uno r3 with my GPS (before it got a fix) to see how well it worked. I knew there would be an impact, but i was surprised at how much it affected the other stuff I was trying to do on it - which was not very much. More on reddit.com
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December 7, 2024Videos
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RS-232 Explained: Working Principle, Pinout, Cables & Applications ...
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The RS-232 protocol - YouTube
RS-232 Serial Communication Protocol Explained: DB9 and DB25 ...
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RS232 Explained in 2 Minutes (Serial Communication + Wiring Basics) ...
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What is RS232 and What is it Used for? - YouTube
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Cabo Conversor USB Serial Rs232 | Cabo USB para ...
DigiKey
digikey.com › en › maker › blogs › 2023 › understanding-the-rs-232-standard
Understanding the RS-232 Standard
October 25, 2023 - RS-232 defines that asynchronous serial communication is used to exchange data between devices, meaning that information is transmitted one bit at a time without a dedicated clock signal that synchronizes exchange between the communication partners.
Eaton
tripplite.eaton.com › products › rs-232-serial-to-usb-adapters
RS232 Cable and Connectors Explained | Eaton
RS-232 is a simple serial communication standard in which one bit of data is transmitted at a time over a serial cable at the relatively slow rate of up to 20K bits/second and distances up to 50-ft.
Biamp
support.biamp.com › biamp control › biamp control technologies
RS-232 Everything you need to know - Biamp Cornerstone
April 13, 2022 - The RS-232 signals are serial data communication. The RS-232 line has two states: either high or low. According to the standard, the high level can range between -15 and -3 V and the low level can range between 3 and 15 V.
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › computer networks › rs232c-for-data-transfer
RS232C for Data Transfer - GeeksforGeeks
July 12, 2025 - RS232 is an Interface and the protocol between DTE(data terminal equipment) and DCE(data communication equipment) using serial binary data exchange, where C represents revised version of RS-232 and RS-232C itself describes the physical and ...
RealPars
realpars.com › blog › rs232
What Is RS232 and What Is It Used For? - RealPars
What exactly is RS232? First and foremost, it is a form of serial data transmission. Or simply put, it is a form of communication.
Analog
analog.com › home › resource library › technical articles › fundamentals of rs-232 serial communications
Fundamentals of RS-232 Serial Communications | Analog Devices
November 4, 2025 - The official name of the EIA/TIA-232-E standard is "Interface Between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-Termination Equipment Employing Serial Binary Data Interchange." Although the name may sound intimidating, the standard is simply concerned with serial data communication between a ...
TALtech
taltech.com › support › serial_intro
RS232 and Serial Communications – TAL Technologies
The serial ports on most computers use a subset of the RS-232C standard. The full RS-232C standard specifies a 25-pin “D” connector of which 22 pins are used. Most of these pins are not needed for normal PC communications, and indeed, most ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/embedded › understanding serial communication
r/embedded on Reddit: Understanding serial communication
January 25, 2023 -
I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the difference between serial communication standards (bus?) and serial communication protocols. Sometimes I feel like I've seen them used interchangeably and I can't put a finger on the difference. For example RS485 or RS232 vs MODBUS or CAN. What are each of these defining exactly? Logic levels, baud rates and packet structures? Also, what are SPI, I2C, UART, USB.. are those protocols or standards?
Top answer 1 of 5
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Understanding this is a good start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model Some standards refer to different "layers" of communications - sometimes it's electrical, sometimes it's data format, sometimes it's some combination that spans layers. A lot of words get used interchangeably - but then most of the time that's because it doesn't actually matter what you call it, everyone knows what you mean.
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"Serial communication" in its most simple form means that data bits travel through a single line, one by one like ducks in a row. In contrast, in parallel communication you'd have multiple lines and the transferred bits are evenly distributed over the lines. You may want to picture a street with one lane vs. a street with many lanes. One might think that parallel is better because you have more lanes to use. But this is not the case because the bits on the data lines need to be synchronized. Picture a street with 8 lanes where cars are not allowed to overtake each other but instead need to arrive at exactly the same time. Pretty nasty. There are many different serial protocols and you've already listed many important ones as for instance RS232 / RS485 CAN LIN SPI I2C USB PCI Express Ethernet UART is actually not a protocol but more a term for a piece of hardware capable of performing simple protocols like RS232 or RS485 All these protocols are all standardized and they differ greatly in their scope and what they can do. The most important features from an end-user point of view would be throughput (bits/sec) and maximum cable length. RS232 is one of the simplest protocols. It only describes how a single byte with 8 bits can be transferred over a wire. Nothing more. RS232 is very primitive and can reach speeds up to ~1MBit/sec. Typical speed is slower, around 112KBit/sec. The RS232 specification probably fits on 2 pages. On the other hand, we have complex protocols like USB3 or PCIExpress. They have many more features such as: Auto detection of communication partners Auto negotiation of communication speed Combining data into packets Routing of packets through a network or tree of devices Directly accessing remote memory through data packets ... and much, much more ... Theses protocols are insanely powerful and fast. USB 3.x can reach up to 20 GBit/sec, USB 4.x up to 40 GBit/sec. The protocols are very complex. I have a PCI Express book on my table and it has around 1.300 pages. There is much, much more to this. In fact, it's IMHO one of the most complex and fascinating areas. USB4, for example, is so powerful that you can tunnel PCI Express (which is already excellent) through it. This is great because it allows end users, to connect fundamentally different devices over the same cable. That's for starters. Feel free to ask any follow-up questions :)
AV Access Community
community.avaccess.com › knowledge base
RS232 Serial Port: 7 Facts You Need to Know before Using - Knowledge Base - AV Access Community
March 21, 2023 - In our new blog, we will explore ... cables available. What Is RS232? RS232 is a standard communication protocol that defines the electrical and physical characteristics of a serial ......
Reddit
reddit.com › r/embedded › rs232 serial communication two-way - best practice
r/embedded on Reddit: RS232 serial communication two-way - best practice
December 7, 2024 -
I’ve got an Arduino setup with a max3232 allowing me to send and receive serial commands between my arduino and old AV equipment I have.
At the moment I send with the arduino and then essentially ‘listen’ in a loop for a response. My question is ‘what is best practice for doing this?’. I want to maximise the chance of the AV equipment ‘seeing’ the command come through, and then want to maximise the chance of my arduino ‘hearing’ the response and capturing it.
As I understand it, there’s no acknowledgements that happen in the communication in either direction, and the arduino can’t listen and speak at the same time. So what’s the best practice to minimise the chance of the arduino picking up a response?
Thanks!
Reddit
reddit.com › r/arduino › rs232 serial communication - two way best practice
r/arduino on Reddit: RS232 serial communication - two way best practice
December 7, 2024 -
I’ve got an Arduino setup with a max3232 allowing me to send and receive serial commands between my arduino and old AV equipment I have.
At the moment I send with the arduino and then essentially ‘listen’ in a loop for a response. My question is ‘what is best practice for doing this?’. I want to maximise the chance of the AV equipment ‘seeing’ the command come through, and then want to maximise the chance of my arduino ‘hearing’ the response and capturing it.
As I understand it, there’s no acknowledgements that happen in the communication in either direction, and the arduino can’t listen and speak at the same time. So what’s the best practice to minimise the chance of the arduino picking up a response?
Thanks!
Top answer 1 of 4
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Unless the old equipment uses the handshaking lines (e.g. RTD, DTR etc) and you can receive and process the replies (e.g. CTS) there isn't much more that you can do beyond sending the data As for receiving it: if (Serial1.available()) { char ch = Serial1.read(); // do stuff with ch - ideally accumulate it in a buffer // don't use getting which is blocking } // do other stuff as required. Oh, yes, ideally look for a platform that has a spare USART to receive your serial data. Pretty much anything than an Uno R3 will meet that criteria. But even on an uno, you can use SoftwareSerial, which is OK, but not for high speeds or medium to high volumes of data. For example, I tried SoftwareSerial on an uno r3 with my GPS (before it got a fix) to see how well it worked. I knew there would be an impact, but i was surprised at how much it affected the other stuff I was trying to do on it - which was not very much.
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Acks and retries are the responsibility of the higher-level protocol. If you're using a protocol defined by the AV equipment then you're stuck with whatever mechanism, if any, that it provides. The Arduino hardware is certainly capable of sending and receiving RS232 at the same time. I haven't used the serial library enough to say how it's handled there.
CommFront
commfront.com › pages › 3-easy-steps-to-understand-and-control-your-rs232-devices
3 easy steps to understand and control your RS232 devices – CommFront
If you have a chance to test your ... RS-232C, EIA RS-232, or simply RS-232, refers to the same standard defined by the Electronic Industries Association in 1969 for serial communication....
Control.com
control.com › home › technical articles › understanding rs232 serial communication message formats
Understanding RS232 Serial Communication Message Formats - Technical Articles
January 26, 2023 - The protocol was originally used for communication between computers and peripheral devices such as a mouse, printer, or modem. It is hard to find a computer today with a serial port, but the industrial automation world still uses the protocol today. The standard uses between -3 VDC and -15 VDC to determine a “1” and between 3 VDC and 15 VDC as a “0”. With this logic, a binary message can be sent from one device to another.
Pico Technology
picotech.com › home › pico knowledge bases › rs-232 serial protocol decoding
How to decode RS-232 signals in PicoScope 7
July 18, 2025 - These voltage levels are often referred to as “binary 1” and “binary 0,” respectively · RS-232 is a serial communication standard, meaning data is transmitted one bit at a time.
DwyerOmega
dwyeromega.com › home › resources
RS232 Protocol: Introduction To The Standard And The Interface.
April 17, 2019 - Serial transmission involves the sending of data one bit at a time, over a communications line. In this article we summarize the main features of the RS232
RS Components
rs-online.com › designspark › serial-communication-the-ins-and-outs-of-rs-232
Serial Communication: the Ins and Outs of RS-232 | Electronics Design
January 17, 2023 - An earlier standard had a baud rate of 110 which allowed the first mechanical teleprinters with 7-bit ASCII character sets to communicate via the PSTN. So where does RS-232 fit in? The original standard defines the signals needed for a serial communication link between Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) and Data Communication Equipment (DCE).
CONTEC
contec.com › support › basic knowledge › serial communication basic knowledge -rs-232c / rs-422a / 485
Serial communication Basic Knowledge -RS-232C/RS-422A/485- | CONTEC
What is serial communication? With an easy-to-understand way to explain the differences between RS-232C/422A/485 communication standards, connection methods, communication formats, etc.
SparkFun Learn
learn.sparkfun.com › tutorials › serial-communication › all
Serial Communication - SparkFun Learn
A synchronous serial interface always pairs its data line(s) with a clock signal, so all devices on a synchronous serial bus share a common clock. This makes for a more straightforward, often faster serial transfer, but it also requires at least one extra wire between communicating devices.