24.3.3.2.1 Clock Recovery

Since there is no common clock signal when using Asynchronous mode, each communicating device generates separate clock signals. These clock signals must be configured to run at the same baud rate for the communication to take place. The devices, therefore, run at the same speed, but their timing is skewed in relation to each other. To accommodate this, the USART features a hardware clock recovery unit which synchronizes the incoming asynchronous serial frames with the internally generated baud rate clock.

The figure below illustrates the sampling process for the Start bit of an incoming frame. It shows the timing scheme for both Normal and Double-Speed mode (the RXMODE bit field in the USARTn.CTRLB register configured respectively to 0x00 and 0x01). The sample rate for Normal mode is 16 times the baud rate, while the sample rate for Double-Speed mode is eight times the baud rate (see Double-Speed Operation for more details). The horizontal arrows show the maximum synchronization error. Note that the maximum synchronization error is larger in Double-Speed mode.

When the clock recovery logic detects a falling edge from the Idle (high) state to the Start bit (low), the Start bit detection sequence is initiated. In the figure above, sample 1 denotes the first sample reading ‘0’. The clock recovery logic then uses three subsequent samples (samples 8, 9, and 10 in Normal mode, and samples 4, 5, 6 in Double-Speed mode) to decide if a valid Start bit is received. If two or three samples read ‘0’, the Start bit is accepted. The clock recovery unit is synchronized, and the data recovery can begin. If less than two samples read ‘0’, the Start bit is rejected. This process is repeated for each Start bit.