Virtual Serial Port Splitter

[Derrick Drescher]

SerialPort Splitter creates the necessary number of virtual COM ports linked to the specified physical COM port. Created virtual serial ports appear as usual hardware COM ports. When virtual serial ports are opened by communications applications correspondingly, data from the physical COM port is sent to all opened virtual COM ports simultaneously. And vice versa, data from each communications application written to a virtual COM port is sent to the physical COM port.

When virtual serial ports are opened by communications applications, data from the physical COM port is sent to all opened virtual COM ports simultaneously. And vice versa, data from each communications application written to a virtual COM port is sent to the physical COM port.

The program allows you to split one physical COM port into several virtual COM ports. Each virtual serial port appears as the exact copy of a hardware COM port. Thus, several communications applications can exchange data with serial device connected to the physical COM port simultaneously.

Serial Port Splitter makes it possible also to open a single physical COM port by several communications applications simultaneously. This is very similar to splitting but in this case serial communications applications get access to a serial device using the same COM port name without necessity to create several virtual COM ports. Thus, you don't have to adjust each communications application to work with separate virtual COM port.

In case if you need to send data to several serial devices from a single communications application simultaneously, you can simply join physical COM ports into one virtual port. In this case data from every physical COM port will be sent to virtual serial port. Also the data from the communications application will be sent to all joined hardware COM ports via virtual COM port.

The program makes virtual serial ports accessible at every system startup even prior to user's logon. Once configured, virtual COM ports are created automatically and you don't have to adjust anything or even login to operating system.

The program splits COM1 into three virtual COM ports which are the exact copies of COM1. Virtual serial ports are connected with COM1 internally. As soon as three virtual COM ports are opened by communications applications correspondingly, they start receiving data from the GPS-receiver over COM1.

Using an RS232 splitter can provide substantial benefits to an organization or business. There are both financial and productivity gains associated with employing serial port splitters. Peripheral equipment can be more readily shared, removing the need to make redundant purchases, saving valuable monetary resources. The ability to share serial devices without swapping and reattaching cables saves time for more productive activities.

A serial splitter can be used in a variety of settings where multiple applications need to communicate with a serially attached device. A simple example can be seen with a monitoring device that provides details on environmental factors such as humidity or temperature. Several applications may need to make use of the same flow of data generated by the device. The output might be used for local weather reporting and also be forwarded to a system making more widespread predictions. A COM port splitter enables this scenario to be implemented easily.

The communication options afforded by a splitter also allow an application to communicate with multiple serial devices at the same time. This enables the application to write to or exert control over these devices simultaneously. An example can be found by looking at an automated assembly line where a control application sends instructions to a group of actuators to shut down in an emergency. Without the ability to split the serial signal, this would have to be done sequentially instead of simultaneously with the risk of additional damage to the affected facility.

RS232 serial splitter software offers significant advantages over a hardware solution. The software works by creating virtual serial ports that fully emulate physical serial interfaces. Virtual serial ports created by the software offer the same level of functionality to a serial application as does a physical port.

In addition to the flexibility provided by an unlimited number of virtual ports, a software solution to splitting serial ports reduces office clutter and the need for purchasing extra cables. The software can be easily scaled to handle additional users, something that cannot be done with an RS232 splitter box or cable. Unless there are compelling circumstances, a software solution is the recommended method of sharing serial traffic.

Serial Port Splitter is another software solution that enables serial data from one port to be shared with several serial applications. It creates the required number of virtual interfaces to provide the necessary communication. Some of its features include:

The last software package we will look at is Shared Serial Ports. It also provides a hardware-free method of splitting COM ports. The virtualized ports exhibit the same functionality as physical ports and their parameters can be configured to fit the needs of any serial applications or devices. Some of its features are:

This 12-inch cable is an economical solution for splitting the data transmission from serial devices. It is constructed with a single DB9 male connector and two DB9 female connectors. Molded connectors with thumbscrews allow the connector to be easily attached to computers and devices. The 9 pins are wired straight through and are fully shielded. Its utility is limited by its length and the number of ports, but it may be just what you need. You can purchase this hardware serial splitter cable for $5.95.

The flexibility provided by a software solution like Virtual Serial Port Driver PRO can handle the needs of enterprises which require the ability to split serial data transmissions. If your company needs that functionality, you should download a demo today and see what the tool can do for your computing environment.

VSPE is intended to help software engineers and developers to create/debug/test applications that use serial ports. It is able to create various virtual devices to transmit/receive data. Unlike regular serial ports, virtual devices have special capabilities: for example, the same device can be opened more than once by different applications, that can be useful in many cases. With VSPE you are able to share physical serial port data for several applications, expose serial port to local network (via TCP protocol), create virtual serial port device pairs and so on.

This license allows you to use VSPE API in 32/64 bit Windows environments and you get your unique vendor ID.

Please contact Eterlogic Support and describe your usage scenario to find out if this license is applicable for you.

I need to interface labview with multiple arduino boards, but I don't have that many usb port available on my computer. I was wondering if I can buy a usb hub, would it increase the number of available com port? Just wondering whether anyone have tried that or not.

I need to interface labview with multiple arduino boards, but I don't have that many usb port available on my computer. I was wondering if I can buy a usb hub, would it increase the number of available com port?

Yes, of course you can. There are some limitations like max. 127 USB devices per USB bus and not more than 7 daisy-chained USB hubs or similar, and I think there's also a limit on how many COM ports Windows can have, but it's hard to hit that limits.

If it has not, Windows does not remember it when connected to an other USB port, and it will show up with a different port number. This is also true if you connect the device to an other port of the same hub.

You are confused. The hardware driver tells the OS that specific hardware should be treated specially. For example, ftdi232.inf let's Windows know that an FTDI chipset is a rs232 serial port. The windows registry then assigns a COM alias to the hardware and stores some information so that each time that exact device is connected it gets the same COM Alias.

RS-232 has been around since Christ was a carpenter so 8 bits in the numerator is all you get. 256 COM ports max per operating system. Since RS-232 ports are slow (there is a non error tolerant copper physical layer) 256 is more than time allows anyway.

To add to what the others side, the USB hub does absolutely nothing in terms of adding additional COM ports. It simply allows to add more USB devices to the system. If those devices are mice, keyboards, cameras, joysticks, measurement devices or your virtual COM port on an Arduino, does make absolutely no difference. It's the Arduino USB port that provides the virtual COM port, not the USB hub.

One thing you have to watch out however: A standard USB port on a computer is usually limited to provide 500mA at most, sometimes even 300mA. With USB C connectors this could change but you shouldn't count on that. So if your USB hub is supposed to power those Arduinos through its USB connector rather than a local power supply, you definitely will need to look for a powered USB hub with its own power supply. Otherwise you will get very unhappy with intermittent USB connection drops because of power drops on the USB power supply line.

The correct way to do this is to have a program on your PC reading the incoming data on the serial port and parse to determine the channel in question, then do whatever it is you want with the data. Display it, save it etc.

I wish to test in different softwares..but its for log the data from the ADC. But the softwares only access data serial port..so even i can managed to do a script to parse the data i need to send to a "virtual serial port" to the software accept the data.

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