Technologic Systems TS-SER4 User manual

i
TS-SER4 Manual

2
Technologic Systems, Incorporated
16525 East Laser Drive
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
480-837-5200
FAX [phone]
[email protected]
http://www.embeddedx86.com/
This revision of the manual is dated
June 05, 2009
All modifications from previous versions are listed in the appendix.
Copyright © 1998-2009by Technologic Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

3
Limited Warranty
Technologic Systems warrants this product to be free of defects in material and
workmanship for a period of one year from date of purchase. During this warranty period
Technologic Systems will repair or replace the defective unit in accordance with the
following instructions:
Contact Technologic Systems and obtain a Return Material Authorization (RMA)
number and a copy of the RMA form.
Fill out the RMA form completely and include it and dated proof of purchase with
the defective unit being returned. Clearly print the RMA number on the outside of
the package.
This limited warranty does not cover damages resulting from lightning or other power
surges, misuse, abuse, abnormal conditions of operation, or attempts to alter or modify
the function of the product.
This warranty is limited to the repair or replacement of the defective unit. In no
event shall Technologic Systems be liable or responsible for any loss or damages,
including but not limited to any lost profits, incidental or consequential damages,
loss of business, or anticipatory profits arising from the use or inability to use this
product.
Repairs made after the expiration of the warranty period are subject to a flat rate repair
charge and the cost of return shipping. Please contact Technologic Systems to arrange
for any repair service.

4
Table of Contents
Limited Warranty.............................................................................................................................. 3
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5
2. PC/104 Bus Interface............................................................................................................5
3. Serial Ports ........................................................................................................................... 5
4. COM Port Selection ..............................................................................................................6
5. Control and Status Registers................................................................................................ 7
6. Interrupt Selection................................................................................................................. 8
7. RS-485 and RS-422 ............................................................................................................. 9
8. 2X Baud Clock ...................................................................................................................... 9
9. Jumpers JP1, JP2................................................................................................................. 9
10. Temperature Range............................................................................................................ 10
Appendix A Visuals........................................................................................................................ 11
Appendix B Manual Revisions....................................................................................................... 11

5
1. Introduction
The TS-SER4 is a PC/104 expansion card with four serial ports using the PC standard
16C550 type UARTs (with 16-byte FIFOs). All four COM ports support RS-232 levels
and two of these COM ports can optionally support RS-422/ RS-485 levels.
A flexible interrupt sharing design allows for a large number of COM ports using a
minimum number of interrupts. An interrupt status register allows rapid identification of
the interrupt source.
This product uses a multi-layer PCB with power and ground planes to minimize noise
and EMI issues. The TS-SER4 only requires a single 5V power supply.
2. PC/104 Bus Interface
The TS-SER4 features a 16-bit PC/104 bus interface that allows access up to 11 IRQ
lines. A lower cost version with an 8-bit PC/104 bus interface limits the interrupt
selection to 6 IRQ lines (IRQ3, IRQ4, IRQ5, IRQ6, IRQ7, and IRQ9). A Xilinx
programmable Logic Device (PLD) is used to decode the COM port addresses. This
allows for a great amount of flexibility in the standard product and allows for custom
configurations if they are necessary.
3. Serial Ports
The two serial ports that are labeled COM_A and COM_B support RS-232 levels only.
These two ports support the full complement of standard RS-232 handshakes as shown
in Table 1.
The two serial ports labeled COM_C and COM_D support a subset of RS-232C
handshakes lines that is sufficient for the vast majority of applications. In addition these
two ports can optionally have RS-485/RS-
422 drivers. Table 2 lists the pin-outs for
these ports.
The serial ports all use 16C550 UARTs,
which provide 16 byte send and receive
FIFOs, reducing the CPU overhead of high-
speed serial communications.
The serial baud clock (common to all four
serial ports) is derived from the PC/104 OSC
(14.318 MHz) signal. If this signal is not
present on the bus (all Technologic Systems
products have this signal), it will be
necessary to add a 3.6864 MHz crystal
oscillator in the position labeled X1. This
supplemental crystal oscillator can also be
used to generate very high-speed baud rates
Pin # RS-232 Signal
1 DCD
2 RX data
3 TX data
4 DTR
5 GND
6 DSR
7 RTS
8 CTS
9 RI
10 -
Pin # RS-232 Signal
1 DCD
2 RX data
3 TX data
4 DTR
5 GND
6 DSR
7 RTS
8 CTS
9 RI
10 -
Table 1
Pin-out for COM_A and COM_B Headers

6
(up to 1 Megabit/sec) or non-standard baud
rates easily. The PC/104 OSC signal is
always used as the clock source except when
a crystal oscillator is installed. When a crystal
oscillator is installed, it is always used to
derive the baud clock.
4. COM Port Selection
The four COM ports can be
configured as COM1 thru
COM24. Jumpers (labeled
COM1, COM2, COM4 and JP3)
are used to select the base COM
port using a binary weighting.
COMA is always the base COM
port selected. For example, if the
four COM ports are to be
configured as COM5 thru COM8
then jumpers “COM1” and
“COM4” should be installed (1 + 4
= 5). In this case COMA would
be COM5 and COMB, COMC,
and COMD would be COM ports
COM6, COM7, and COM8
respectively.
Table 3 documents jumper
settings and the base COM port
selected.
PLEASE NOTE: Not all serial
adapter cables are alike! We are
aware of at least two 'standard'
pinouts for these cables. If you did
not purchase your serial adapter
cables from us, this may be an issue
if the serial ports are not working.
5 4 3 2 1
10 9 8 7 6
Figure 1 - Serial Port Header Pin Location
Pin 1 is labeled with a dot in the legend
Pin RS-232 RS-422 RS-485
1 TX+ RX/TX+
2 RXD
3 TXD
4 RX+
5 GND GND GND
6 TX- RX/TX-
7 RTS
8 CTS
9 RX-
10
Table 2
Pinout for COM_C and COM_D Headers
Jumper
COM1
Jumper
COM2
Jumper
COM4
Jumper
JP3
Control
Reg. Base
Address
Base COM
Port
Address
Yes No No No 230h COM1
No Yes No No 230h COM2
Yes Yes No No 230h COM3
No No Yes No 230h COM4
Yes No Yes No 234h COM5
No Yes Yes No 234h COM6
Yes Yes Yes No 234h COM7
No No No No 238h COM9
Yes No No Yes 240h COM13
No Yes No Yes 240h COM14
Yes Yes No Yes 240h COM15
No No Yes Yes 240h COM16
Yes No Yes
Yes 244h COM17
No Yes Yes Yes 244h COM18
Yes Yes Yes Yes 244h COM19
No No No Yes 248h COM21
Table 3 – Base COM port Selection

7
Table 4 documents the physical I/O address
locations for COM ports COM1 thru COM12.
Since a Xilinx programmable logic device (PLD)
is used to decode the I/O locations, it is possible
to have the COM ports decoded at any location.
Call Technologic Systems for more details.
There are four status registers associated with
each TS-SER4 board. These registers contain
the status of all the jumpers and also the status
of the interrupts for each COM port. These four
registers have different I/O locations depending
upon the Base COM port selected. This allows
for multiple TS-SER4 boards to be installed.
Table 3 documents where the base address for
these control and status registers is located.
There are a total of six different Base locations
to allow a total of six TS-SER4 boards in a
single system. Using a custom configuration in
the Xilinx PLD, it is possible to have more than
three boards in a system.
5. Control and Status Registers
There are four registers on each TS-SER4 board (unrelated to the UARTs). These
registers are documented in Table 5 below. The first three registers are “Read Only”
while in the fourth register bit 7 is “Read/Write” and bits 0-6 are “Read Only”. For all
registers, if a condition is true, a logic “1” is returned. For example, when a jumper is
present, a logic “1” is returned. For the Base + 1 address, if an interrupt is pending, the
respective status bit is set to a logic “1”.
The Base address (Base + 0) always returns a fixed value of 7A (Hex).
The Base + 1 address returns the status of the 4 interrupt sources from COM_A,
COM_B, COM_C, and COM_D. This is essential for sharing interrupts and allows the
interrupt service routine to determine which COM port has an interrupt pending. When
any of these sources has an interrupt pending, the respective status bit is set.
The Base + 2 address returns the status of the jumpers that determine the Base COM
port location (jumpers J_com1 thru J_com4) and the Base IRQ selected (jumpers J_irq1
thru J_irq8).
COM
Port I/O location (Hex)
COM1 3F8
COM2 2F8
COM3 3E8
COM4 2E8
COM5 3A8
COM6 2A8
COM7 3A0
COM8 2A0
COM9 398
COM10 298
COM11 390
COM12 290
COM13 378
COM14 278
COM15 368
COM16 268
COM17 328
COM18 228
COM19 320
COM20 220
COM21 318
COM22 218
COM23 310
COM24 210
Table 4 – COM port I/O locations

8
The Base + 3 address has the RS-485 option bit returned on bit 6. Bits 0-4 return the
status of other miscellaneous jumpers. Bit 7 of this register is readable and writeable.
When set, bit 7 enables RS-485 and RS-422 operation. At power-up or system reset, bit
7 is initialize to a zero (RS-485 disabled). Note bit 6 must set (RS-485 option is
populated) in order for RS-485 or RS-422 to function.
6. Interrupt Selection
The TS-SER4 has four interrupt
sources (COM_A thru COM_D) that
can be routed to one or two of 11
possible PC/104 interrupts.
Jumpers are used to select which
interrupts are used.
The jumpers use a simple addition
algorithm to select the interrupt.
For example, if you wish to use
IRQ6, then the jumpers labeled
IRQ2 and IRQ4 should be installed
(4 + 2 = 6).
Either a single interrupt or two
interrupts may be used. All four
sources are mapped to a single
interrupt when jumper “2-IRQs” is
not installed. When this jumper is
installed, the COM_A and COM_C
interrupts are routed to the lower
IRQ and COM_B and COM_D
interrupts are routed to the higher
IRQ as shown in Table 6. The
Interrupt status register can be
read to determine which COM port
is the source of the interrupt.
See Section 5.
Address Bit 7 Bit 6 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0
Base + 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0
Base + 1 INT_D INT_C INT_B INT_A
Base + 2 J_com4 J_com2 J_com1 J_irq8 J_irq4 J_irq2 J_irq1
Base + 3 En_485 OP_485 J_JP3 J_JP2 J_JP1 J_2xBaud J_2irq
Table 5 - TS-SER4 Control and Status Registers
Jumper
IRQ1
Jumper
IRQ2
Jumper
IRQ4
Jumper
IRQ8
Jumper
2-IRQs
IRQ
Selected
Yes Yes No No No IRQ3
No No Yes No No IRQ4
Yes No Yes No No IRQ5
No Yes Yes No No IRQ6
Yes Yes Yes No No IRQ7
Yes No No Yes No IRQ9
No Yes No Yes No IRQ10
Yes Yes No Yes No IRQ11
No No Yes Yes No IRQ12
No Yes Yes Yes No IRQ14
Yes Yes Yes Yes No IRQ15
Yes Yes No No Yes 3 and 4
No No Yes No Yes 4 and 5
Yes No Yes No Yes 5 and 6
No Yes Yes No Yes 6 and 7
Yes Yes Yes No Yes 7 and 9
Yes No No Yes Yes 9 and 10
No Yes No Yes Yes 10 and 11
Yes Yes No Yes Yes 11 and 12
No No Yes Yes Yes 12 and 14
No Yes Yes Yes Yes 14 and 15
Table 6 – Interrupt Selection

9
7. RS-485 and RS-422
COM_C and COM_D can support RS-232 or RS-485 or RS-422 protocols. Jumpers
are used to select which mode is to be used for each port. There are also jumpers to
add 120 ohm termination resistors for the TX and RX pairs. Termination resistors may
be required when running very long distances at high baud rates. The TS-SER4 board
supports either half-duplex or full duplex operation. The jumpers are labeled “RS-485” to
select half-duplex (single pair operation) and the jumpers are labeled “RS-422” for full
duplex operation (two pairs required).
The transmit enable for the RS-485 driver is controlled by the RTS signal. The RTS
signal must be asserted true to enable the RS-485 driver. When RTS is deasserted it
disables the transmit driver and enables the RS-485 receiver. The RTS signal has no
effect on the RS-422 receiver. The RS-422 receiver is always functional. But RTS must
be asserted to enable the RS-422 driver.
There is a control bit (See Section 5) that must be set for proper RS-485 or RS-422
operation. This bit must be set once and does not need to be updated. This enable bit
solves a problem when RTS is asserted during boot. The BIOS and some Operating
Systems toggle RTS during boot, which could cause it to “jam” the RS-485 bus.
There is also a status bit indicates if the TS-SER4 is populated with the RS-485 option.
8. 2X Baud Clock
The Jumper labeled “2x Baud” can be installed to cause all baud rates to be twice as
high as the standard UART programming would indicate. For example, when a divisor
of “1” written into the UART baud rate register, this would normally provide a baud rate
of 115.2 Kbaud. But when jumper “2x Baud” is installed, this same divisor will yield a
baud rate of 230.4 Kbaud.
When the external crystal oscillator is installed, this jumper also doubles the effective
baud rate. If a 3.6864 MHz oscillator is installed, standard baud rates are obtained. If a
16.0 MHz oscillator is installed and jumper “2x Baud” is installed, a baud rate of 1
Megabit/second is obtained. This is the maximum clock rate that the TL16C554 chip
can handle.
By adjusting the frequency of the external crystal oscillator (and also the divisor in the
UART), any non-standard baud rate can be obtained.
9. Jumpers JP1, JP2
These jumpers are not defined at this time. We may have some special functions for
these jumpers in the future. For example, we had intended to support automatic RS-485
on the TS-SER4. The board was designed to allow for this capability, but the limited
number of macrocells in the Xilinx PLD has forced us to forgo this functionality. The
flexibility of the Xilinx PLD allows us to change this if required. For example, if we limited
the number of IRQs that could be selected, we could gain enough macrocells to
implement automatic RS-485 capability.
These jumpers can be read back in the status register, so they can be used as “User
Jumpers” If there is a special feature you require, contact Technologic Systems.

10
10. Temperature Range
The TS-SER4 is available in both standard temperature (0-70 degrees Celsius) and in
extended temperature range of –40 to +85 degrees Celsius.

11
Appendix A Visuals
Appendix B Manual Revisions
Date Revision
04.30.2003 Document Created
06.05.2009 Updated mailing address