4.1: Encoding and Framing

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A typical serial line is ultimately a stream of bits, not bytes. How do we identify byte boundaries? This is made slightly more complicated by the fact that, beneath the logical level of the serial line, we generally have to avoid transmitting long runs of identical bits, because the receiver may simply lose count; this is the clock synchronization problem (sometimes called the clock recovery problem). This means that, one way or another, we cannot always just send the desired bits sequentially; for example, extra bits are often inserted to break up long runs. Exactly how we do this is the encoding mechanism.

Once we have settled the transmission of bits, the next step is to determine how the receiver identifies the start of each new packet. Ethernet packets are separated by physical gaps, but for most other link mechanisms packets are sent end-to-end, with no breaks. How we tell when one packet stops and the next begins is the framing problem.

To summarize:

encoding: correctly recognizing all the bits in a stream
framing: correctly recognizing packet boundaries

These are related, though not the same.

For long (multi-kilometer) electrical serial lines, in addition to the clock-related serial-line requirements we also want the average voltage to be zero; that is, we want no DC component. We will mostly concern ourselves here, however, only with lines short enough for this not to be a major concern.