The core file supports the serial port installed on the TI TMS320C54x DSP. The serial port on the EVM is connected with a cable to COM2 on the PC. Before jumping to your code, the core file initializes the EVM's serial port to 38,400 bits per second (bps) with no parity, eight data bits, and one stop bit (but it may be necessary to restart the DSP completely if the serial port does not work.) It then accepts characters received from the PC by the UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter) and buffers them in memory until your code retrieves them. It also can accept a block of bytes to transmit and send them to the UART in sequence.

Two macros are used to control the serial port: READSER and WRITSER. Both accept one parameter. READSER n reads up to n n characters from the serial input buffer (the data coming from the PC) and places them in memory starting at *AR3. (AR3 is left pointing one past the last memory location written.) The actual number of characters read is left in AR1. If AR1 is zero, then no characters were available in the input buffer.

WRITSER n adds n n characters starting at *AR3 to the serial output buffer; in other words, it queues them to be sent to the PC. AR3 is left pointing one location after the last memory location read.

Note that READSER and WRITSER modify registers AR0, AR1, AR2, AR3, and BK, as well as the flag TC. Be sure you restore these registers after calling READSER and WRITSER if you need them later in your code.

Note also that the core file allows up to 126 characters to be stored in the input and output buffers. Neither the DSP hardware nor the core file protect against serial-buffer overflows, so you must be careful not to allow the input and output buffers to overflow. (The length of the buffers can be changed by editing ser_rxlen and ser_txlen values in core.asm.) The buffers are 127 characters long; however, the code cannot distinguish between a completely-full and completely-empty buffer. Therefore, only 126 characters can be stored in the buffers.

It is easy to check if the input or output buffers in memory are empty. The input buffer can be checked by comparing the values stored in the memory locations srx_head and srx_tail; if both memory locations hold the same value, the input buffer is empty. Likewise, the output buffer can be checked by comparing the values stored in memory locations stx_head and stx_tail. The number of characters in the buffer can be computed by subtracting the head pointer from the tail pointer; add the length of the buffer (normally 127) if the resulting distance is negative.

The following example shows the minimal amount of code necessary to echo received data back through the serial port. It is available as ser_echo.asm.

	
	1		.copy "core.asm"
	2
	3		.sect ".data"
	4 	hold	.word 0
	5              
	6		.sect ".text"
	7 	main
	8		stm #hold,AR3      	; Read to hold location
	9	 
	10		READSER 1		; Read one byte from serial port
	11	 
	12		cmpm AR1,#1		; Did we get a character?
	13		bc main,NTC		; if not, branch back to start
	14	 
	15		stm #hold,AR3		; Write from hold location
	16		WRITSER 1		; ... one byte
	17	 
	18		b main
	
      

Line 8 sets AR3 to point to the location hold so that READSER will store serial data there. On Line 9, READSER 1 reads one serial byte into hold; the byte is placed in the low-order bits of the word, and the high-order bits are zeroed. If a byte was read, AR1 will be set to 1. AR1 is checked in Line 12; Line 13 branches back to the top if no byte was read. Otherwise, AR3 is reset to hold (since READSER moved it), then on Line 16, WRITSER sends the word received. Finally, Line 18 branches back to the start to receive another character.

MATLAB allows you to create a visual interface with standard graphical user-interface (GUI) controls such as sliders, checkboxes, and radio buttons to call MATLAB scripts. The following scripts can be used to create a sample interface:

	  
	  1	% ser_set: Initialize serial port and create three sliders
	  2	
	  3	% Set serial port mode
	  4	!mode com2:38400,n,8,1
	  5	
	  6	% open a blank figure for the slider
	  7	Fig = figure(1);
	  8
	  9	% open sliders
	  10
	  11	%  first slider
	  12	sld1 = uicontrol(Fig,'units','normal','pos',[.2,.7,.5,.05],...
	  13	 'style','slider','value',4,'max',254,'min',0,'callback','wrt_slid');
	  14
	  15	%  second slider
	  16	sld2 = uicontrol(Fig,'units','normal','pos',[.2,.5,.5,.05],...
	  17	 'style','slider','value',4,'max',254,'min',0,'callback','wrt_slid');
	  18
	  19	%  third slider
	  20	sld3 = uicontrol(Fig,'units','normal','pos',[.2,.3,.5,.05],...
	  21	 'style','slider','value',4,'max',254,'min',0,'callback','wrt_slid');

	  
	

	    
	    1	% wrt_slid: write values of sliders out to com port
	    2	
	    3	% open com port for data transfer
	    4	fid = fopen('com2:','w');
	    5
	    6	% send data from each slider
	    7	v = round(get(sld1,'value'));
	    8	fwrite(fid,v,'uint8');
	    9
	    10	v = round(get(sld2,'value'));
	    11	fwrite(fid,v,'uint8');
	    12
	    13	v = round(get(sld3,'value'));
	    14	fwrite(fid,v,'uint8');
	    15
	    16	% send reset pulse
	    17	fwrite(fid,255,'uint8');
	    18
	    19	% close com port connection
	    20	fclose(fid);