Microcontroller Communication—What Is UART?

Microcontrollers often find themselves in specialized circuits with specific functions such as measurement, monitoring, and controlling. However, there are instances where connecting a microcontroller to a computer can be incredibly beneficial or even necessary (for example, device configuration). There are several ways this PC-Microcontroller communication can be achieved, including...

Over Wi-Fi (such as the ESP8266 module)



Ethernet



USB



While these forms of communication may allow for high data-transfer rates, they are rather difficult to use, as well as being overkill.

Thankfully, there is one other type of communication that most microcontrollers come with called UART, which stands for Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter.

This is a simple serial connection that can be used for sending small amounts of data at low speeds and is incredibly simple to use and implement. What makes UART even handier is that there are USB-to-serial converters that can be used to allow a microcontroller to communicate with a PC via USB using a virtual COM port.