Figure 1: Grove – Infrared Transmitter
On the transmission side, the transmitter will send IR SONY data. For more details, please refer to SB-Projects’ topic of IR Remote Control Theory to learn the theory of IR remote controls operation and a collection of IR protocol descriptions. In this example, we are going to use Sony as the transmission protocol.
Sony Features
• 12-bit version, 7 command bits, 5 address bits.
• Pulse width modulation.
• Carrier frequency of 40kHz.
• Bit time of 1.2ms or 0.6ms.
Sony SIRC Modulation
The SIRC protocol uses pulse width encoding of the bits. The pulse representing a logical “1” is a 1200us long burst of the 40kHz carrier, while the burst width for a logical “0” is 600us long. All bursts are separated by a 600us long space interval as shown in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2: Sony SIRC Modulation

Protocol
Figure 3: 12-bit Sony SIRC protocol
The Figure 3 above shows a typical pulse train of the 12-bit SIRC protocol. With this protocol the LSB is transmitted first. The start burst is always 2.4ms wide, followed by a standard space of 0.6ms. Apart from signalling the start of a SIRC message this start burst is also used to adjust the gain of the IR receiver. Then the 7-bit Command is transmitted, followed by the 5-bit Device address. In this case Address 1 and Command 19 is transmitted.
Commands are repeated every 45ms (measured from start to start) for as long as the key on the remote control is held down.