Collection: SENT Interface Decoders

The SENT Interface standard will allow ECU and tool manufacturers to satisfy the needs of multiple end-users with minimum modifications to the basic design. This standard will benefit vehicle Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) by achieving lower ECU costs due to higher industry volumes of the basic design.

The SENT protocol is a one-way, asynchronous voltage interface that requires three wires: a signal line (low state < 0.5V, high state > 4.1V), a supply voltage line (5V) and a ground line. SENT uses Pulse Width Modulation to encode 4 bits (1 nibble) per symbol.

The basic unit of time in SENT is called a tick, where a tick can be between 3 - 90 µs, at the sender's option. Each message is preceded by a calibration pulse with a high period of 56 ticks for framing and calibration of tick length. After the calibration pulse, each nibble is transmitted with a fixed-width low signal, followed by a variable-length high period. The low-period is 5 (or more) ticks in length, while the high period can vary, for a total time between falling edges of between 12-27 ticks (representing nibbles ranging from 0-15.)