doc/help/Data-Flow.md
Understanding how data moves through Serial Studio helps you configure it and debug issues. This page follows a single byte from your device to a rendered widget on screen.
The diagram below shows the full data flow from hardware to dashboard widgets, along with the optional export path for CSV, MDF4, and the API.
flowchart TD
A["Device"] -->|bytes| B["Driver"]
B --> C["Input Buffer"]
C --> D["Frame Reader"]
D --> E["Frame Builder"]
E --> T["Transforms &
Data Tables"]
T --> F["Dashboard"]
T -->|export| G["CSV · MDF4 · API · Session DB"]
Your device sends raw bytes over one of ten supported transports: UART, TCP/UDP, Bluetooth LE, audio input, Modbus RTU/TCP, CAN Bus, MQTT, USB, HID, or Process I/O.
The selected driver receives bytes from the operating system and hands them off to the rest of the pipeline. No parsing happens here. The driver's only job is raw byte transport. Each driver handles its own protocol: serial framing, TCP streams, BLE characteristic notifications, audio sample buffers, and so on.
A 1 MB input buffer sits between the driver and the frame reader. It absorbs bursts of incoming data so momentary spikes in data rate don't cause dropped bytes. If data arrives faster than Serial Studio can consume it for a while, an overflow counter increments so you can spot the condition.
The frame reader scans the input buffer for frame boundaries and extracts complete frames. Four detection modes are available:
After extraction, the frame reader can optionally validate a checksum. Nine algorithms are registered: XOR-8, MOD-256, CRC-8, CRC-16, CRC-16-MODBUS, CRC-16-CCITT, Fletcher-16, CRC-32, and Adler-32. Valid frames move to the next stage.
The frame builder turns each complete frame into a structured record of groups and datasets, based on the current operation mode.
No project file needed. This mode targets rapid prototyping with CSV-formatted serial output.
parse(frame) function in your chosen scripting engine (Lua 5.4 or JavaScript).transform(value) function to convert the raw value into an engineering value. The walk is single-pass, in group then dataset order: a transform can read any dataset's raw value, but reading the final value of a dataset that comes later in the order returns the previous frame's result. Transforms can also read project constants and publish computed registers in the project's Data Tables; computed registers persist across frames. See Dataset Value Transforms.In multi-device projects, each device (source) is parsed independently, with its own frame reader and its own isolated script engine. Source frames are published to the dashboard independently, so one noisy source can't block or corrupt another.
The dashboard updates all active widgets with the new values as they arrive. Time-series widgets (plots, FFT, GPS trajectory) append new samples to a fixed-size history and drop the oldest samples once the history is full.
Widget rendering is capped at a configurable refresh rate. The default is 60 Hz, and you can change it in Settings → UI Refresh Rate (or with the dashboard.setFps API command) to any value between 1 and 240 Hz. Higher rates give smoother animation but cost more CPU and GPU. Lower rates are useful on laptops, older machines, or when you want to free resources for recording. Note that incoming data is not sampled or discarded at this rate. Every frame is still processed and exported. Only the visual refresh of the widgets is capped.
When CSV export, MDF4 export, the session database, or the API server is active, every frame is also handed to the export workers. Each export target writes data in the background, so disk I/O and network traffic never block the dashboard or slow down the pipeline.
Documents/Serial Studio/CSV/. See CSV Export & Playback.No data in the console. Check driver configuration: correct port, baud rate, IP address, or BLE characteristic.
Data in the console but no dashboard. Check the operation mode. Make sure frame delimiters match what your device sends. In Project File mode, make sure the frame parser returns valid arrays or tables.
Garbled data. Wrong baud rate, wrong decoder, or mismatched delimiters. Compare the raw console output against your expected format.
Partial frames. Delimiter mismatch. Your device may be sending \r\n while you configured only \n, or vice versa. Look at the raw hex in the console.
Dashboard not updating. Check that dataset Frame Index values in the project file match the positions in your parsed data array. Index 1 maps to the first element returned by parse().
High CPU with no dashboard. The frame reader may be matching too many false frames. Tighten your delimiters or add checksum validation.
Choppy dashboard animation. Raise the UI refresh rate in Settings → UI Refresh Rate. 60 Hz is a good baseline. 120 Hz or higher gives smoother motion at the cost of more CPU.
High CPU from the dashboard itself. Lower the UI refresh rate. Dropping from 60 Hz to 30 Hz roughly halves the cost of widget redraws without losing any incoming data.
Export files empty. Export workers only write while a device is connected. Check that export was started before you disconnected.