Communication

Embedded electronics is all about interlinking circuits (processors or other integrated circuits) to create a symbiotic system. In order for those individual circuits to swap their information, they must share a common communication protocol. Hundreds of communication protocols have been defined to achieve this data exchange, and, in general, each can be separated into one of two categories: parallel or serial. Serial UARTs, SPI, and I2C are used with many products in the SparkFun catalog to pass data. They can be used with a serial terminal to help troubleshoot issues or display data. However, there are other methods of communication some of which include IR, RS-232, RS-485, CAN, MIDI, and DMX. Check out the tutorials below to start relaying data between your devices!

1W LoRa MicroMod Function Board Hookup Guide

November 11, 2021

Everything you need to get started with the 1W LoRa MicroMod function board; a MicroMod function board that provides LoRa capabilities for your MicroMod project. Must be used in conjunction with a MicroMod main board and processor.

2D Barcode Scanner Breakout Hookup Guide

May 27, 2021

A quick Hookup Guide to get you started with the SparkFun 2D Barcode Scanner Breakout.

Adding More SERCOM Ports for SAMD Boards

February 4, 2019

How to setup extra SPI, UART, and I2C serial ports on a SAMD-based boards.

Arduino Wireless Communication via the Electric Imp

April 8, 2014

How to communicate between an Electric Imp and Arduino using serial.

ARGOS (ARTIC R2) Satellite Communication Guide

November 18, 2021

A guide describing the ARGOS satellite network - as used by our ARTIC R2 satellite communication products

ARGOS ARTIC R2 Satellite Transceiver Shield Hookup Guide

November 18, 2021

A hookup guide for the ARGOS Satellite Transceiver Shield - ARTIC R2 (SPX-17236)

ASCII

June 13, 2016

A brief history of how ASCII came to be, how it's useful to computers, and some helpful tables to convert numbers to characters.

AST-CAN485 Hookup Guide

March 1, 2018

The AST CAN485 is a miniature Arduino in the compact form factor of the ProMini. In addition to all the usual features it has on-board CAN and RS485 ports enabling quick and easy interfacing to a multitude of industrial devices.

BC118 BLE Mate 2 Hookup Guide

January 15, 2015

Hooking up and using the BLE Mate 2, which uses the BC118 BLE module from BlueCreations.

Bi-Directional Logic Level Converter Hookup Guide

October 25, 2013

An overview of the Bi-Directional Logic Level Converter, and some example circuits to show how it works.

Binary

February 7, 2013

Binary is the numeral system of electronics and programming...so it must be important to learn. But, what is binary? How does it translate to other numeral systems like decimal?

Boss Alarm

March 30, 2016

Build a Boss Alarm that alerts you of anyone walking into your office and automatically changes your computer screen.

CAN-BUS Shield Hookup Guide

October 8, 2015

A basic introduction to working with the CAN-Bus shield.

Cryptographic Co-Processor ATECC508A (Qwiic) Hookup Guide

October 17, 2019

Learn how to use some of the standard features of the SparkFun Cryptographic Co-processor.

Getting Started with OBD-II

October 8, 2015

A general guide to the OBD-II protocols used for communication in automotive and industrial applications.

Hack Your Roshamglo Badge

March 12, 2017

Learn how to customize and program your Roshamglo badge.

Hexadecimal

March 20, 2014

How to interpret hex numbers, and how to convert them to/from decimal and binary.

I2C

July 8, 2013

An introduction to I2C, one of the main embedded communications protocols in use today.

Industrial Fiber Optics Hookup Guide

January 20, 2021

Learn how to get started with our fiber optics breakout boards

Introduction to DMX

November 14, 2018

DMX512 is an industry standard in lighting and stage design, whether it be controlling lights, motors, or lasers, DMX512 has many uses. In this tutorial we’ll cover DMX512 (Digital Multiplex with 512 pieces of information).

Introduction to MQTT

November 7, 2018

An introduction to MQTT, one of the main communication protocols used with the Internet of Things (IoT).

IOTA (ARTIC R2) Satellite Communication Module Hookup Guide

November 18, 2021

A hookup guide for the SparkFun IOTA - Satellite Communication Module (ARTIC R2) (SPX-17984)
Viewing 56 Communication Tutorials. View All Tutorials.

Old Tutorials

Looking for the old, archived tutorials? Head on over to the archived tutorials on the main SparkFun site.
Please be aware that the tutorials you find there are no longer actively maintained.