RS-232 is a long-standing communication standard. This document gives an overview on the RS-232 standard, provides explanations of key electrical and timing specifications of RS-232 transceivers, and includes a selection guide to help choose the correct RS-232 for a specific application.
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RS-232 is a common point-to-point communication interface for various peripheral devices to enable communication between a host and a peripheral. RS-232 conforms to the TIA-232 and EIA-232 standards. To understand how to choose the correct RS-232 device for a system, a brief overview of the RS-232 standard as well key specifications for the transceivers is discussed in the following sections.
The RS-232 standard covers three areas of interest: electrical, functional, and mechanical. The electrical specifications include the physical electrical layer standard definitions.