RS-232

NI Serial Hardware and Software

RS-232

As specified in the ANSI/EIA-232-D Standard, Interface Between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment Employing Serial Binary Data Interchange, RS-232 standardizes serial communication between computers and between computer terminals and modems. Many applications use the RS-232 standard to interface peripherals to personal computers. RS-232 uses transmission lines in which the state of each signal is represented by referencing the voltage level of a single line to ground. RS-232 was designed for serial communication up to distances of 50 ft and with data rates up to 20 kbytes/s. However, because of improvements in line drivers and cabling, it is possible to increase the actual performance of the bus past the limitations on speed and distance recommended in the specification.