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| In ] and ], '''serial communications''' refers to any data transmission scheme in which data is sent one symbol at |
In ] and ], '''serial communications''' refers to any data transmission scheme in which data is sent one symbol at one time, sequentially over a communications channel. | ||
| The communications links across which computers—or parts of computers—talk to one another may be either serial or parallel. A parallel link transmits several streams of data (perhaps representing particular bits of a stream of bytes) along multiple channels (wires, printed circuit tracks, optical fibres, etc.); a serial link transmits a single stream of data. | The communications links across which computers—or parts of computers—talk to one another may be either serial or parallel. A parallel link transmits several streams of data (perhaps representing particular bits of a stream of bytes) along multiple channels (wires, printed circuit tracks, optical fibres, etc.); a serial link transmits a single stream of data. | ||
Revision as of 09:14, 19 May 2005
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In telecommunications and computer science, serial communications refers to any data transmission scheme in which data is sent one symbol at one time, sequentially over a communications channel.
The communications links across which computers—or parts of computers—talk to one another may be either serial or parallel. A parallel link transmits several streams of data (perhaps representing particular bits of a stream of bytes) along multiple channels (wires, printed circuit tracks, optical fibres, etc.); a serial link transmits a single stream of data.
At first sight it would seem that a serial link must be inferior to a parallel one, because it can transmit less data on each clock tick. However, there are plenty of compensating advantages.
- A serial connection takes up less space.
- The extra space can be used to isolate it better from its surroundings.
- Not having multiple conductors in close proximity means less crosstalk at higher frequencies.
- Clock skew between the different channels is not an issue.
- These last three considerations mean that a serial connection can, all else being equal, be clocked considerably faster than a parallel one.
Examples of serial communication architectures
- Morse code telegraphy
- RS-232 (old, low-cost, low-speed, for connecting computers to peripherals)
- RS485
- Universal Serial Bus (newer, moderate-speed, for connecting computers to peripherals)
- FireWire
- Fibre Channel (high-speed, for connecting computers to mass storage devices)
- InfiniBand (very high speed, broadly comparable in scope to PCI)
- Serial Attached SCSI
- Serial ATA
- PCI Express