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!

SparkFun gator:log Hookup Guide

September 5, 2019

The gator:log is a serial communication based data logger. This tutorial will get you started using the gator:log with the micro:bit platform.

SparkFun QwiicBus Hookup Guide

April 1, 2021

Build a long-range, noise-isolated I2C bus with the SparkFun QwiicBus Kit featuring the QwiicBus EndPoint and MidPoint following this Hookup Guide.

SparkFun Satellite Transceiver Kit - Swarm M138 Hookup Guide

December 1, 2022

A hookup guide for the SparkFun Satellite Transceiver - Swarm M138 (KIT-21287)

SparkFun Serial Basic CH340C Hookup Guide

December 13, 2018

SparkFun Serial Basic Breakout takes advantage of USB-C and is an easy-to-use USB-to-Serial adapter based on the CH340C IC from WCH. With USB-C you can get up to three times the power delivery over the previous USB generation and has the convenient feature of being reversable.

SparkFun USB to Serial UART Boards Hookup Guide

February 18, 2016

How to use the SparkFun FTDI based boards to program an Arduino and access another serial device over the hardware serial port, without unplugging anything!

SparkFun USB UART Breakout (CY7C65213) Hookup Guide

February 2, 2017

How to use SparkFun's advanced USB UART breakout, based on the Cypress CY7C65213.

Three Quick Tips About Using U.FL

December 28, 2018

Quick tips regarding how to connect, protect, and disconnect U.FL connectors.

USB Type A Female Breakout Hookup Guide

February 13, 2014

An above-and-beyond example using the USB Type A Female Breakout board.
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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.