Introduction

Serial communication is one of the most common tasks for microcontrollers (MCUs) to execute. It allows the data exchange between the MCU and other devices, such as sensors, displays and other MCUs. However, due to the nature of serial communications, debugging it can prove to be a challenge. This technical brief discusses how the abstraction of serial communications can simplify debugging and specific, common issues encountered. The content is focused primarily on I²C, SPI, and UART protocols, with some information about I3C®.