UART: Advantages and Disadvantages

This page covers the advantages and disadvantages of UART. It mentions UART advantages (benefits) and UART disadvantages (drawbacks). It also describes UART interface basics.

What is UART? (Introduction)

• UART stands for Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter.
• It uses two lines viz. TxD and RxD for transmit and receive functions.
• It is an asynchronous communication method. Hence, the data rate should be matched between devices wanting to communicate.
• It supports a data rate of about 230 to 460 Kbps (maximum).
• It supports a distance of about 50 feet.
• No common clock is being used. Moreover, devices use their own independent clock signals.
• The UART protocol consists of a start bit, 8 bits of data, and a stop bit.
• It is also known as the RS232 interface.

UART interface diagram

Benefits or Advantages of UART

Following are the benefits or advantages of UART:

• Hardware complexity is low.
• As this is a one-to-one connection between two devices, software addressing is not required.
• Due to its simplicity, it is widely used in devices having a 9-pin connector.

Drawbacks or Disadvantages of UART

Following are the disadvantages of UART:

• It is suitable for communication between only two devices.
• It supports a fixed data rate between devices wanting to communicate; otherwise, data will be garbled.