Circuit Enables PCs to Communicate via IrDA Introduction of IRDA The Infrared Data Association ( IrDA ) is an industry driven interest group that was founded in 1993 by around 50 companies. IrDA provides specifications for a complete set of protocols for wireless infrared communications and the name "IrDA" also refers to that set of protocols. The main reason for using IrDA had been wireless data transfer over the “last one meter” using point and shoot principles. Thus, it has been implemented in portable devices such as mobile phones, laptops, cameras, printers, medical devices. Main characteristics of this kind of wireless optical communication is physically secure data transfer, Line-of-Sight ( LOS ) and very low bit error rate ( BER ) that makes it very efficient. Abstract: This application note describes a simple circuit allowing a PC to communicate via an IrDA-specified optical data port. The circuit employs only two integrated circuits (ICs), an external infrared...
