Jargon Dictionary

It is obvious that while doing Fab Academy I came across lot of new terms and words which were far beyond my knowledge, so inorder to keep them in my mind and help build my learning all together, I tried noting all of them. So that in future I will be getting helped or I can just refer to those points for the references.

  • Capacitor temporarily stores energy

  • If you want clean and clear signal line use capacitor with speaker.

Types of serial communication protocols

  1. UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter) Type: Asynchronous (no clock signal)

Lines: TX (Transmit), RX (Receive), GND

Speed: 9600 bps to 115.2 kbps (common)

Use Case:

  • Arduino serial monitor (USB-to-UART)

  • GPS modules, Bluetooth (HC-05)

  • Pros: Simple, widely supported

  • Cons: No error checking, short-range

  • I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit)

Type: Synchronous (clock-driven)

Lines: SDA (Data), SCL (Clock), GND

Speed: 100 kbps (Standard), 400 kbps (Fast), 3.4 Mbps (High-Speed)

Use Case: - Sensors (BME280, MPU6050)

  • EEPROM, OLED displays

  • Pros: Multi-master/multi-slave, uses only 2 wires

  • Cons: Slower than SPI, limited distance (~1m)

  • SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) Type: Synchronous (clock-driven)

Lines:

MOSI (Master Out Slave In)

MISO (Master In Slave Out)

SCK (Clock)

SS/CS (Slave Select)

Speed: 1 Mbps to 100+ Mbps

Use Case:

  • High-speed SD cards, TFT displays

  • RF24 modules, Ethernet/Wi-Fi chips

  • Pros: Full-duplex, fastest serial protocol

  • Cons: More wires (4+), complex multi-slave setup