The SCI is a 2-wire asynchronous serial port, commonly known as a UART. The SCI module supports digital communications between the CPU and other asynchronous peripherals that use the standard non-return-to-zero (NRZ) format
The SCI receiver and transmitter each have a 16-level-deep FIFO for reducing servicing overhead, and each has its own separate enable and interrupt bits. Both can be operated independently for half-duplex communication, or simultaneously for full-duplex communication. To specify data integrity, the SCI checks received data for break detection, parity, overrun, and framing errors. The bit rate is programmable to different speeds through a 16-bit baud-select register. Figure 6-71 shows the SCI block diagram.
Features of the SCI module include:
- Two external pins:
- Data-word format
- One start bit
- Data-word length programmable from 1 to 8 bits
- Optional even/odd/no parity bit
- 1 or 2 stop bits
- Four error-detection flags: parity, overrun, framing, and break detection
- Two wakeup multiprocessor modes: idle-line and address bit
- Half- or full-duplex operation
- Double-buffered receive and transmit functions
- Transmitter and receiver operations can be accomplished through interrupt-driven or polled algorithms with status flags.
- Transmitter: TXRDY flag (transmitter-buffer register is ready to receive another character) and TX EMPTY flag (transmitter-shift register is empty)
- Receiver: RXRDY flag (receiver-buffer register is ready to receive another character), BRKDT flag (break condition occurred), and RX ERROR flag (monitoring four interrupt conditions)
- Separate enable bits for transmitter and receiver interrupts (except BRKDT)
- NRZ format
- Auto baud-detect hardware logic
- 16-level transmit and receive FIFO
Note: All registers in this module are 8-bit registers. When a register is accessed, the register data is in the lower byte (bits 7–0), and the upper byte (bits 15–8) is read as zeros. Writing to the upper byte has no effect.
The major elements used in full-duplex operation include:
- A transmitter (TX) and its major registers:
- SCITXBUF register – Transmitter Data Buffer register. Contains data (loaded by the CPU) to be transmitted
- TXSHF register – Transmitter Shift register. Accepts data from the SCITXBUF register and shifts data onto the SCITXD pin, 1 bit at a time
- A receiver (RX) and its major registers:
- RXSHF register – Receiver Shift register. Shifts data in from the SCIRXD pin, 1 bit at a time
- SCIRXBUF register – Receiver Data Buffer register. Contains data to be read by the CPU. Data from a remote processor is loaded into the RXSHF register and then into the SCIRXBUF and SCIRXEMU registers
- A programmable baud generator
- Data-memory-mapped control and status registers enable the CPU to access the I2C module registers and FIFOs.
The SCI receiver and transmitter operate independently.