Single-ended signalling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Single-ended signalling is the simplest method of transmitting electrical signals over wires. One wire carries a varying voltage that represents the signal, while the other wire is connected to a reference voltage, usually ground. The alternative to single-ended signalling is called differential signalling.
The main advantage of single-ended over differential signalling is that fewer wires are needed to transmit multiple signals. If there are n signals, then there are n+1 wires - one for each signal, plus one for ground. (Differential signalling uses at least 2n wires.) The main disadvantage of single-ended signalling is that the return currents for all the signals share the same wire, and can sometimes cause interference ("crosstalk") between the signals. This limits the bandwidth of single-ended signalling systems.
Single-ended signalling is a widely used technique, and can be seen in a number of common transmission standards, including:
- RS-232 serial communications
- PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors
- I²C serial bus
- TTL circuits
- CMOS logic circuits
- ECL circuits
- Most parallel computer buses, such as:
- VGA video connectors
- ATA hard disk interfaces
- RCA jacks for audio signals
 |
This article is uncategorized.
Please help improve this article by adding it to one or more categories, so it may be associated with related articles (how?). Please remove this tag after categorizing. |
