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13

Software Half Duplex UART for AVRs

arduino hacks, attiny, ATtiny Hacks, half duplex, software uart, uart Commenti disabilitati su Software Half Duplex UART for AVRs 

One Wire Serial

If you have worked with very low cost microcontroller in the past, such as the ATtiny series from AVR, you’ve probably been stuck without a UART peripheral. The usual answer to this problem is to implement the UART in software. It’s not fast, but it works.

Lets say you’re even more limited on resources, and only have a single pin for UART. [Ralph] created a software library and a small circuit that enables half duplex UART using only one pin. With the above circuit, and a 62 byte Arduino compatible library, you can add UART to the tiniest of ATtinys.

In this circuit, the Tx/Rx pin is on the AVR, and the Tx and Rx pins are another device. The circuit relies on the idle state of UART being a logic high signal. When the Tx pin is idle, the transistor stays on. This allows the Tx/Rx pin to pull Rx low when the AVR sends a 0. When the Tx pin sends a 0, the Tx/Rx pin gets pulled low through the diode.

It’s a clever hack, and could definitely help add communication to your next tiny project.


Filed under: Arduino Hacks, ATtiny Hacks


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