- PJDL (Padded Jittering Data Link) v4.1
- PJDLR (Padded Jittering Data Link over Radio) v3.0
- PJDLS (Padded Jittering Data Link byte Stuffed) v2.0
- TSDL (Tardy Serial Data Link) v2.1
- SFSP (Secure Frame Separation Protocol) v1.0
Invented by Giovanni Blu Mitolo
Originally published: 10/04/2010
Latest revision: 10/03/2020
Related implementation: /src/strategies/SoftwareBitBang/
Compliant versions: PJON v12.0 and following
Released into the public domain
10/04/2010 0.1 - First experimental release
12/02/2017 1.0 - Frame initializer, response made safe
31/03/2017 1.1 - Physical layer info
24/09/2017 2.0 - Modes 1, 2, 3
29/12/2018 3.0 - Medium access control info, mode 4
03/07/2019 4.0 - Response initializer
10/03/2020 4.1 - Maximum range experimentally determinedPJDL (Padded Jittering Data Link) is an asynchronous serial data link for low-data-rate applications that supports both master-slave and multi-master communication over a common conductive medium. PJDL can be easily implemented on limited microcontrollers with low clock accuracy and can operate directly using a single input-output pin.
The medium's maximum length is limited by the wiring resistance, by the voltage level used and by externally induced interference. The maximum length of the bus can reach between 800 and 2000 meters depending on the mode used.
PJDL SINGLE WIRE BUS ______
______ ______ ______ ______ | |
| | | | | | | | |DEVICE|
|DEVICE| |DEVICE| |DEVICE| |DEVICE| |______|
|______| |______| |______| |______| |
___|__________|________|___________|______/\/\/\__| IO PIN
___|__ __|___ ___|__ ___|__ | 110-180 Ω
| | | | | | | | |
|DEVICE| |DEVICE| |DEVICE| |DEVICE| |__/\/\/\__ GND
|______| |______| |______| |______| 8 kΩ - 5 MΩ It is suggested to add 8kΩ-5MΩ pull-down resistor as shown in the graph above to reduce externally induced interference. The longer is the length of the cable and the higher is the amount of induced interference, the lower should be the resistance of the pull-down resistor. Pins can be optionally protected against overload adding a current limiting resistor to each connected pin. The resistor value can be obtained solving the following equation R = (operating voltage / pin max current drain), for example to obtain the current limiting resistor value for an Arduino Uno simply substitute its characteristics: R = (5v / 0.030A) = 166.66Ω.
The proposed communication modes are the result of years of testing and optimization and have been selected to be easily supported by limited microcontrollers.
| MODE | Data bit duration | Padding bit duration | Pad-data ratio | Bandwidth | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | 116 | 2.636 | 1.95kB/s - 15625Bd | 2000m |
| 2 | 40 | 92 | 2.300 | 2.21kB/s - 17696Bd | 1600m |
| 3 | 28 | 88 | 3.142 | 2.94kB/s - 23529Bd | 1200m |
| 4 | 26 | 60 | 2.307 | 3.40kB/s - 27210Bd | 800m |
Durations are expressed in microseconds.
PJDL specifies a variation of the carrier-sense, non-persistent random multiple access method (non-persistent CSMA). Devices can detect an ongoing transmission for this reason collisions can only occur in multi-master mode when 2 or more devices start to transmit at the same time. When a collision occurs it can be detected by the receiver because of synchronization loss or by the transmitter if an active collision avoidance procedure is implemented.
Byte transmission is composed by 10 bits, the first two are called synchronization pad and are used to obtain sampling synchronization. The synchronization pad is composed by a high padding bit longer than data bits and a low data bit. The following 8 data bits contain information in LSB-first (least significant bit first) order.
The reception technique is based on 3 steps:
- Find a high bit which duration is equal to or acceptably shorter than a high padding bit
- Synchronize to its falling edge
- Ensure it is followed by a low data bit
If so reception starts, if not, interference, synchronization loss or simply absence of communication is detected.
___________ ___________________________
| SYNC-PAD | DATA |
|_______ |___ ___ _____ |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 1 | 0 |
|__|____|___|___|_____|___|___|_____|___|
|
Minimum acceptable padding bit durationThe synchronization pad adds overhead although it includes synchronization along with the data and eliminates the need of a dedicated clock line. The minimum acceptable padding bit duration is the time in which a receiver initiating polling can correctly receive a byte. If the duration of the padding bit is shorter than the minimum acceptable duration the received signal is discarded. The minimum acceptable duration of the padding bit must be shorter than a padding bit duration; a large minimum acceptable duration reduces the chances of false positive's occurrences, a small minimum acceptable duration instead mitigates timing inaccuracies. The presence of the synchronization pad between each byte also ensures that a frame composed of a series of bytes with decimal value 0 can be transmitted safely without risk of collision.
Before a frame transmission the communication medium's state is analysed, if high communication is detected and collision is avoided, if low for a duration of one byte plus a small random time, frame transmission starts with an initializer composed by 3 consecutive synchronization pads followed by data bytes. The synchronization pad is used for both byte and frame initialization to reduce the implementation complexity.
________ _________________ __________________________________
|ANALYSIS| FRAME INIT | DATA 1-65535 bytes |
|________|_____ _____ _____|________________ _________________|
| |Sync |Sync |Sync |Sync | Byte |Sync | Byte |
| |___ |___ |___ |___ | __ |___ | _ _|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|00000000| 1 |0| 1 |0| 1 |0| 1 |0|0000|11|00| 1 |0|00000|1|0|1|
|________|___|_|___|_|___|_|___|_|____|__|__|___|_|_____|_|_|_|When a frame is received a low performance microcontroller with an inaccurate clock can correctly synchronize with transmitter during the frame initializer and consequently each byte is received. On receiver's side a frame reception starts if 3 synchronization pads are detected and if their duration is equal or higher than:
frame initializer duration - (padding bit duration - padding bit minimum acceptable duration)
To ensure 100% reliability the padding bit must be longer than data bits. Frame initialization is 100% reliable, false positives can only occur because of externally induced interference. The padding bit duration must not be an exact multiple of the duration of one data bit, for this reason a padding bit / data bit ratio or pad-data ratio of 1, 2, 3 or 4 must be avoided because one or multiple consecutive data bits may be erroneously interpreted as a padding bit.
A frame transmission can be optionally followed by a synchronous response sent by its recipient. Between frame transmission and a synchronous response there is a variable time which duration is influenced by latency.
Transmission end Response
______ ______ ______ _____
| BYTE || BYTE || BYTE | CRC COMPUTATION / LATENCY | ACK |
|------||------||------|---------------------------|-----|
| || || | | 6 |
|______||______||______| |_____|In order to avoid other devices to detect the medium free for use and disrupt an ongoing exchange, the sender cyclically transmits a short high bit (1/4 data bit duration) and consequently attempts to receive a response. The receiver must synchronize its response to the falling edge of the last short high bit, and, in order to avoid false positives in case of collision, must transmit its response prepended with an additional synchronization pulse. If the response is not transmitted or not received the transmitter continues to keep busy the medium up to the maximum acceptable time between transmission and response.
Transmission end Response
______ ______ ______ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____ _____
| BYTE || BYTE || BYTE | | | | | | | | | | | | |SYNC| ACK |
|------||------||------| | | | | | | | | | | | |----|-----|
| || || | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 |
|______||______||______|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |____|_____|The maximum time dedicated to potential response reception for a given application can be determined practically transmitting the longest supported frame with the farthest physical distance between the two devices. The highest interval between packet transmission and response measured plus a small margin is the correct timeout that should exclude response losses. Consider that the longer this timeout is, the more bandwidth is wasted if the transmission is not successful.