A Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter, abbreviated UART ( /ˈjuːɑrt/), is a type of "asynchronous receiver/transmitter", a piece of computer hardware that translates data between parallel and serial forms. UARTs are commonly used in conjunction with communication standards such as EIA, RS-232, RS-422 or RS-485. The universal designation indicates that the data format and transmission speeds are configurable and that the actual electric signaling levels and methods (such as differential signaling etc.) typically are handled by a special driver circuit external to the UART.
A UART is usually an individual (or part of an) integrated circuit used for serial communications over a computer or peripheral device serial port. UARTs are now commonly included in microcontrollers. A dual UART, or DUART, combines two UARTs into a single chip. Many modern ICs now come with a UART that can also communicate synchronously; these devices are called USARTs (universal synchronous/asynchronous receiver/transmitter).
Read more about Universal Asynchronous Receiver/transmitter: Transmitting and Receiving Serial Data, Synchronous Transmission, History, Structure, UART Models, UART in Modems
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