Introduction to Encoding and Decoding.

Making a simple Encoder-Decoder

device

Hey guys how are you, I am vkas and in our today’s post I will introduce you with the concept of
Encoding and Decoding and will show how to encode data at one end and decode it at another
end. I will also go through the concept behind address lines in electronics actually means.

In today's post I have made some animated content in flash for better understanding, in case if
your connection is very slow, then may take a moment to load. If you face any bug in them
please post about it in comment box below. Yup, rest alright as always..let's start..

What is Encoding and Decoding:

In simple words, encoding is wrapping up the data. The data could be anything like simple
binary data (in the form of 1's and 0's) or it could be an audio signal or it could be certain text.
But here we are dealing with the encoding that is used for binary signals. The wrapped data is
called as a Packet. This packet is sent through a medium (“Through wire or wireless”) to the
decoder part where it gets unwrapped or decoded. Yes, now what you are thinking is right, it is
exactly similar to posting an envelope. Encoding is when you put the letter into envelope, the
postman is medium to take the envelope to the recipient and when recipient opens the envelope
then it is called decoding.

So, essentially to apply encoding and decoding technique in our digital world we need three
entities: (1). A sender or in electronics sense it is Transmitter. (2). To receive this sent data we
need a receiver. (3). and of course we need an address of the receiver. The role of address in
electronics is played by address lines.

HT12D and HT12E

In today’s episode, I am taking an Encoder-decoder IC pair. In market, it is available with the

name as HT12E and HT12D. The ‘12’ in the name means 8-address lines and 4-data lines while
E and D letters represents ‘Encoder and decoder’ respectively.
HT12E(Transmitter side)

Let’s first take the Encoding side. The encoder has four input lines. Theses lines are used to give
input which we want to encode. In encoding, we are wrapping up the data which means if we
want to send a binary signal ‘1001’ to other end, we have to make data pins as ‘1001’. Now, to
make data pin like this, what we need to do is to give high or 5 volts (which in digital means ‘1’)
to pins ‘D0’ and ‘D3’ while we have to provide pins ‘D1’ and ‘D2’ with 0 volt. (Ground). This
altogether gives us ‘1001’ which is transmitted out from the ‘Data out’ pin of the HT12E. The
input given to data pin is in parallel form which is being transmitted into serial form from the
data output pin. The figure below will clear this:
Our data is now been encoded and will be transmitted. The transmission medium could be
anything, it could be our regular wire, or wireless. In this tutorial, we are going to use our steady
single core wire which we use to provide connections in breadboard (nothing fancy!).
The data flows in serial form through the wire and reaches the other end i.e. to the receiver.
Receiver now decodes this signal. So, let’s see how decoder works:

HT12D (Receiver side):

Below is the pin diagram of HT12D decoder IC.

Now neglect all the pins for this moment and just concentrate on Din (Data in) pin and the for
Data lines pin. The encoded data which is coming from the transmitter side goes into the Data in
(Din) pin. The data which was in serial order gets decoded and the output is generated at the for
data line pins in same order as that on transmitter pin.

Yup also remember: When there is no input at the data in pin, the output pins i.e. data lines
remains high.
The figure below shows the decoding taking place in HT12D
Role of Address Lines:

When using a single pair of encoder-decoder IC, we generally leave the address pins as it is i.e.
we do not connect them to either ground or VCC. But what if there is more than one decoder but
only single encoder. In that case we need to give an address to the data that it might travel to
specific decoder only and our data should not leak at unnecessary decoders. This is very useful in
wireless communication.
To define an address, what we need to do is to connect specific address pins to the ground on
both encoder and decoder side; remember that the order of connecting the address pins to the
ground must be same. See the animation below for; it will remove all the twists in your mind:

Oscillator Pins:

When we first hear the word oscillations, the first thing that comes in our mind is the to and fro
waving motion, yup as always you are correct. The role of oscillator in digital electronics is to
produce waves which are in Sine wave form or rectangular wave form. The device used to
generate this waveform is called ‘Oscillator’. The waveform generated by the oscillator is called
as ‘Pulses’ (like our heart beat). So, in digital world the oscillator works identical to our Heart.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to see the oscillator device itself because in HT12D and
HT12E, the oscillator comes inbuilt, what we have to do is to put a resistor between the
oscillators pins. But, in our coming tutorial over microcontrollers, the need of oscillator is must,
so we will learn about it in that tutorials only.

VT Pin (Valid Transmission):

The valid transmission pin in decoder shows that the transmitter address and the receiver address
are same and is ready to receive the data from the encoder side.
During implementation of the circuit, we will see how to get notification about the valid
transmission through this pin.

So, now we are loaded with all the essentials needed to implement Encoder-Decoder circuit.
Let’s start implementing one:
 Components Required:
1. IC- HT12E/HT12D (generally comes in pair).

2. Breadboard with complete Power supply.

3. LEDs (5)

4. Resistors (Four 125 ohm for LEDs)

(750k ohm for oscillator of Encoder)
(27k ohm for oscillator of Decoder).

5. Reset Switch (4).

6. Battery (6-24 volts)

7. Like always....your enthusiasm...

Step1.
Take the power supply circuit and insert the encoder and decoder IC’s at some distance. Also
provide the VCC and ground to the pins (Pin number 9 ground and pin number 18 VCC for both
the IC’s). See the figure below:

Step2.
Now, we will first make the encoder part. Insert the 750k ohm resistor in pin number 15 and 16
i.e. you have to short both the pins using this resistor. Connect the ‘Transmission Enable pin’
(TE) to ground. This action will enable the IC to transmit the data through data out pin. Now
connect four reset switches in data line. Remember, reset switch has two legs. One will go into
the data line and the other one will go to ground. So, whenever you will press the switch, the pin
will get connected to the ground. See the figure below which how actually you have to connect
the switches:

Step3.
Yup, our encoder part is completed. You are ready to encode your secret data. But there should
be something which shows the reception of data at data output lines. We are using LEDs for that
purpose. The LED will glow when data is received. So, let’s put down hands over decoder
circuit.
Connect all for LEDs separately with the four data lines of decoder IC. To have a better
understanding, I am not showing the 125 ohm resistor. If you don’t know how to connect resistor
or having doubt over polarity, then click here to have quick tutorial.

Also connect or short pin number 15 and 16 with 27k ohm resistor.
Step4.
That’s it, we are almost done. Now connect our last LED at the VT pin of the decoder. When
circuit is given power, the LED at VT pin glows, it gives the indication that decoder address is
matched with the encoder and ready to have Valid Transmission. At last connect the data out and
data in of encoder and decoder respectively. The circuit will work in the same way as shown in
the window below.

Click the button D0, D1, D2, or D3 at the encoder circuit to view the working of our
encoding and decoding circuit
.

The complete circuit on breadboard will look like this. The bold blue line in centre of the
breadboard connects the data in and data out pins. You can also do this with real breadboard by
taking the wire through the slot provided in centre of breadboard. This makes the circuit look
less messy:
And this is how my own circuit looks (I am using single data line and two breadboards for
‘Impression!’  ) My finger is pressing the switch at encoder part.
The Moral of the story i.e. circuit diagram is shown below:
Now, whatever switch you are gonna press, exactly the same will turn on at the decoder part.
This circuit have great importance when working with wireless RF device which I will surely
cover in upcoming tutorials.