Hardware Podcasts

The Spark Gap - Episode 18

The Spark Gap · 15 Oct 2014 · 47m

What this episode covers

Hosts Karl and Corey provide a technical overview of four common serial communication protocols used for chip-to-chip communication: UART, SPI, I2C, and CAN bus. They compare the protocols based on their wiring requirements, speed capabilities, duplexing modes, and signal integrity characteristics, noting that UART is simple but asynchronous, SPI is fast but point-to-point, I2C is multi-device but power-hungry due to pull-up resistors, and CAN bus offers robust differential signaling for noisy environments. The discussion highlights specific engineering trade-offs, such as the capacitance limits of SPI, the voltage level translation challenges in I2C, and the bus arbitration mechanics of CAN.

Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
FTDI, NXP, Analog Devices
Also
UART, SPI, I2C, CAN bus, RS 422, RS485, LVDS

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The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Spark Gap. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.