Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
13 years ago

DE0 UART Implementation Questions

Hi there, I am currently trying to implement a UART interface on my DE0 board (not the DE0-nano). There are several resources for this and I've gotten a bit confused. In QSYS there is a UART core, on...
Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
13 years ago

A UART outputs a serial data stream at logic levels, eg., probably 3.3V on your DE0.

The ADM3202 is a level translator, it converts the 3.3V logic level to the RS232 standard (+/-10V or so levels), and most likely routes those signals to a DB9 connector (I don't have a DE0 so am not sure about this statement, the signals might also go to a header).

If you want to talk to your DE0 using a USB-to-RS232 cable or using a COM port on a PC, then you need to use the DB9 connector on the DE0.

If you want to talk to your DE0 using a microcontroller development kit, or a USB-to-Serial cable that has logic level outputs (like the FTDI C232HM cable), then you would route the UART IP signals to GPIO headers and connect those headers *and* a ground signal to your microcontroller or USB-to-Serial cable.

Cheers,

Dave