Wouldn't it be great to have an easy tool that can help you debug your communication protocol? Would you like a tool that will help you analyze and troubleshoot RS232 communications in your work?
It is an RS232 analyzer software that is supposed to help you study the communication protocol and data transfer between your computer and equipment or between two serial devices working through the RS-232/RS-485/RS-422 interface.
![RS232 analyzer - Traffic monitor](/serial-port-monitor/images/rs232analyzer-main.png)
How can I analyze an RS-232/RS-485 line?
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Start Advanced Serial Port Monitor.
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Select the necessary mode (look at the "Mode" menu and answers about methods below).
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Select the necessary COM port number from a drop-down menu.
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Start the session by clicking the "Open" button.
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Select an appropriate data view mode between ASCII and HEX.
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Monitor port traffic in real-time, or start saving it using the "Write to file" button.
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Close the session by clicking the "Close" button.
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Add it to your tool set
FAQ about RS=232 analyzing
Can I analyze data between two external devices?
Yes, you can use a special RS-232 monitoring cable. In this mode, the program can capture RS-232 communications separately for TX and RX lines.
Does the program support full-duplex?
Between a peripheral serial device and a computer: it works by default without any actions from your side, and it does not require additional hardware.
Between two serial devices: you should use the corresponding monitoring cable for full-duplex and select the "Dual ports" mode in the analyzer.
Can the program work with the MODBUS protocol?
The program supports the MODBUS RTU and MODBUS ASCII serial protocols. It can decode serial traffic to readable values using a plugin module (free add-on).
![MODBUS RTU & ASCII add-on](/serial-port-monitor/images/rs232analyzer-modbus.png)
Can implement an RS-232/RS-485 analyzer and watch serial protocols without a breakout cable?
You can watch real-time communications between your serial application and a peripheral device using the "Spy" mode. In this mode, our utility monitors data transfer and all COM port activity of another program, as if "dropping in" between the serial interface and the studied program. It can work on any baud rates (it is not relevant because the program intercepts data exchange in the driver).
![Monitoring Mode Selection](/serial-port-monitor/images/serial-port-spy-mode.gif)
What about USB ports?
The serial port analyzer can also receive data from USB to RS-232 adapters (USB cables or dongles) because when you attach a USB cable to your host computer, Windows creates a virtual COM port for it. Furthermore, this port type allows you to monitor and control signals on an RS-232 line.
![RS-232 line signals](/serial-port-monitor/images/rs232analyzer-line-control.png)
Serial Analyzer Features
Monitoring of serial communication over RS-232 interface |
Yes |
Monitoring of serial port traffic over RS485/RS422 with a hardware converter |
Yes |
Virtual environment and virtual machines |
Yes |
Serial port sniffer mode |
Yes |
Logging to a file |
Yes (Binary or Text) |
Advanced Serial Protocol Analyzer |
MODBUS RTU & ASCII |
Monitoring activity of other software applications |
Yes |
Proprietary protocols |
No |
Advanced Features (dual ports mode, plugins, ports autodetection) |
Yes |
Remote monitoring |
No |
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Try Advanced Features and Plugins
Alternative free serial port monitoring utilities
- Portmon monitors Windows kernel-level I/O packets sent/received between serial port device drivers and Win32.
- Free Serial Port Monitor lets you capture and record data into a text file and test serial communication between COM devices and applications. In contrast, Free Serial Port Monitor only supports basic functionality like receiving and sending data over a single serial connection. Moreover, there is no way to decode messages into human-readable form.
![Portmon](/serial-port-monitor/images/portmon.png)
Alternative hardware port monitoring solutions
- EZ-Tap Pro™ by Stratus Engineering offers the highest-performing sophisticated protocol analyzer and RS232 sniffer that works and requires the FREE EZ-View monitoring software.
- IO Ninja by Tibbo is a professional all-in-one terminal emulator, sniffer, and protocol analyzer to monitor communications. IO Ninja is highly modular and has plugins for most transports.
How can RS232 Protocol Analyzer help you to improve your work?
You can’t track data between serial ports & computers without using a serial port monitor. Some readers might not realize that this kind of monitoring also helps provide solutions through many different ways, including displaying, logging, monitoring, and analyzing the serial port activity of systems.
Eliminate cables
Our software product can save your company time and money. It does not require complicated wiring for the computer system to be linked to the monitoring device, and this can be a benefit as it can save time.
Multiple serial ports at the same time
Start several instances of our RS-232 utility and monitor several ports at once. Of course, you can use entirely different settings in each copy.
Easy-to-use
Our monitoring tool does not require special knowledge, and students and professionals can use it. You can use this analyzer utility without any programming skills.
Conclusion
Nevertheless, we recommend using Advanced Serial Port Monitor instead of PortMon and other free analyzers, since it offers more features and better performance per its cost.
Advanced Serial Port Monitor provides many useful functions such as viewing raw binary data, decoding messages into human-readable text, displaying packet headers, etc. The tool displays incoming and outgoing bytes, characters, strings, frames, and other data types. You may choose one of three different views: ASCII, Hexadecimal, and Binary.
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Eliminate unnecessary cables