The CAN or Controller Area Network protocol was conceived by Robert Bosch (of GmbH) in the 1980s. Now that we’ve covered the basics of serial communication in embedded systems, let’s move ahead and discuss the various types of serial communication protocols. How do the arrows fly from the bow? One at a time, right? This is exactly the case with serial communication the data bits travel from one embedded device to another one at a time, serially. Imagine you are shooting at a target with a bow and arrow. In order to understand this properly, let us consider this situation: In serial communication, the data bits are transmitted one at a time in a sequential manner over the data bus or communication channel.

To keep things simple, we will focus this article on the basics of serial communication protocols. In digital communication, there are two types of data transfer: The exchange of data (bits) in embedded systems is governed by a set of rules known as communication protocols. However, what does “communication” mean in embedded systems? Well, the answer is fairly easy! It is simply an exchange of data between two microcontrollers (embedded devices) in the form of bits. Communication can take place in various ways – through written documents, spoken words, audio tapes, video lessons and more. We already know that communication involves the exchange of information between two or more individuals. Before we delve into the technicalities of serial communication protocols, let’s talk about communication in general.

Rs232 serial communication basics