UART, I2C and SPI with a logic analyzer

Module goal: communicate over three fundamental buses, and verify them with a logic analyzer against real signals.

Status: alpha (experimental) · Approximate time: 210 minutes

Every lesson has content, examples you can run on your computer, practice with a solution, a check for understanding, and a lab. The course code runs and has been checked on a computer; the on-board labs are still waiting for a teaching trial.

Lesson	Topic	Time
c-found.m05.l01	UART	70 min
c-found.m05.l02	I2C	70 min
c-found.m05.l03	SPI	70 min

End-of-module checkpoint

• Capture a real UART frame from the board’s pins, decode it by eye first, then confirm it with a decoder.
• Capture I2C signals during a bus scan, and decode the address and ACK with a logic analyzer.
• Capture an SPI transaction and prove with a picture that setting the wrong mode gives the wrong byte.
• Explain how UART, I2C and SPI differ along three dimensions: wire count, device addressing, and speed.