Hardware flow control UART

[Jan Kijonka]

Hi,
Is it possible to communicate between a host MCU and ESP12-E via UART using hardware flow control and AT+Commands ?

If so, do you have some connection diagram for GPIO RTS/CTS connection and software setup ?

Thank you,
Jan

[pratik]

The UART baud rate configuration AT command can be used to enable flow control. Please check the AT command documentation for your version of the firmware.
As for the GPIOs, when flow control is enabled:
GPIO12 = U0DTR
GPIO13 = U0CTS
GPIO14 = U0DSR
GPIO15 = U0RTS

[Jan Kijonka]

Dear pratic,
I looked for the flow control in AT Commands sheet. I have only found "AT+UART" command, which allow flow control:

<flow control>: flow control
‣ 0: flow control is not enabled
‣ 1: enable RTS
‣ 2: enable CTS
‣ 3: enable both RTS and CTS

But what about DTR (Data Terminal Ready) - GPIO12 and DSR (Data Set Ready) GPIO14 ? Are these sognals also included when I enable only RTS and CTS ?

[pratik]

You can only use RTS and CTS, but that is typically enough for most applications where you want to control data flow in case your host is slow to process data.
I'd suggest allowing the UART flow from ESP->host always when the host can process data.

[sarahah]

Hi

I am trying to connect PC with PIC24F002 UART using Rx/Tx and RTS/CTS cross connected along with level translator as MAX3232.

Now as per Datasheet of PIC24FJ.. MCU UART can send data when it detects Low on its CTS pin, while PC as default and in Hardware flow control makes its RTS in MARK state (means negative) that gets translated to High Logic and blocks UART to send any data.

Similarly the other side of data communication blocked.

In all it looks like RTS/CTS pair from MCU <---> Level Translator <---> PC are mis-matched in their logic when used with Hardware Flow Control full duplex mode.

Although, there is Logic Inversion possible with Rx/Tx but that does not seem to be available for RTS/CTS.

What could be the options then? Any idea? What is wrong here?

[renchin]

I have used a logical analyzer to monitor the RTS signal, and the voltage level of RTS pin was always low, I think the hardware flow control of ESP8266 can not work, maybe there are some bugs on the firmware.

[Her Mary]

Is your RTS enabled? You can check it by command AT+UART?