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UART name is an abbreviation of Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter. It is one of the most often used communication methods, traditionally named serial interface or serial port. In opposite to previously presented interfaces, UART uses direct point-to-point communication. UART is the communication unit implemented in microcontrollers rather than the communication protocol. It sends the series of bits via TxD pin and receives a stream of bits with RxD pin. It is important to remember that pin TxD from one device should be connected to pin RxD in another device. This is a general rule but please always check the documentation for some non-standard markings.
To properly transmit data the speed of transmission, otherwise speaking the duration of bit, must be the same at the transmitter and receiver. Although the speed of transmission can be freely chosen, there are some standard, commonly used baudrates. They differ from 300 to 115200 bits per second. In modern microcontrollers, higher baudrates are also available like 230400, 250000, 500000, 1M 2M or 3Mbps. In UART data is sent in frames. The frame begins with the start bit of value “zero”. Next from five to eight data bits are sent. Next optional parity pit can appear. The frame is finished with the stop bit of value “one”. Stop bit can be prolonged to 1,5 or even 2 times the normal bit duration. After at least one stop bit, the next frame can be sent, of course, beginning with a start bit. Start and stop bits are used to keep the synchronization between the receiver and transmitter.
UART, namely Serial Port is used in many modern microcontrollers to upload the executable program, debug, and as the standard input/output for the user interface. For example in Arduino functions that operate on the serial port are included in a standard set of built-in functions.