What is a serial interface?

Serial Interface refers to the sequential transmission of data one by one. Its characteristic is that the communication line is simple, so long as a pair of transmission lines can realize two-way communication (telephone lines can be used directly as transmission lines), thus greatly reducing the cost, especially for long-distance communication, but the transmission speed is slow. The data of a message is transmitted bit by bit in sequence, which is called serial communication. The characteristics of serial communication are: data bits are transmitted in bitwise order, which can be completed by at least one transmission line; low cost but slow transmission speed. Serial communication can range from several meters to several kilometers. According to the direction of information transmission, serial communication can be further divided into three types: single, half-duplex and full-duplex.

Serial interfaces are divided into RS-232-C, RS-422, RS485 and so on according to electrical standards and protocols.