ZEUS Technical Manual

Detailed hardware description

 

 

COM3 – RS232/RS485/RS422 interface

Supported on Channel C of the external Quad UART, COM3 port can be configured by software as RS232 or RS485/RS422.

The port is buffered to RS232 (or RS485/RS422) levels with ±15kV ESD protection. RS232 interface supports full handshaking and modem control signals. The maximum baud rate on this channel is 921.6 Kbaud. COM3 RS232 interface is connected to the connector J19, and RS485/422 interface is connected to the connector J18. For pin assignment and connector details, see J18 – Serial port (RS485/422) – COM3 on page 87 and J19 – Serial ports – COM3/4 on page 88.

Three control outputs of I2C GPIO expander (I2C address 0x21) are used to select one of the operating modes RS232, RS485 or RS422. The selection is implemented by using two control signals (U3_RS232EN, U3_RS422EN) to enable/disable the associated transceivers. The control signal combinations are shown in the following table:

U3_RS232ENU3_RS422EN

 

(EXP1_GPIO 0)(EXP1_GPIO 1) Selected COM3 function

1

X

RS232

0

0

RS485 Full duplex

0

1

RS422 Half duplex

 

 

 

U3_RS232EN and U3_RS422EN are at logic ‘1’ upon reset.

The control signal U3_TERM# is used to enable/disable the RS485/422 line termination and must be enabled if the ZEUS board is at the end of the network. The following table shows the usage of U3_TERM# signal:

U3_TERM# (EXP1_GPIO 2)Termination resistors (120Ω)

0

Connected

1

Disconnected

 

 

 

 

U3_TERM# is at logic ‘1’ upon reset.

The RS485/422 driver (LTC2859) on ZEUS features a logic-selectable reduced slew mode that softens the driver output edges to control the high frequency EMI emissions from equipment and data cables. The reduced slew rate mode is entered by taking the SLO# pin low, where the data rate is limited to about 250kbps. Slew limiting also mitigates the adverse effects of imperfect transmission line termination caused by stubs or mismatched cables.

U3_RS485_SLO# (EXP2_GPIO 5) Slew rate

0Reduced

1Normal

© 2007 Eurotech Ltd Issue D

54