Introduces the basic principles and advantages of the I2C bus
The document presents a comprehensive overview of the I²C serial bus, covering its technical details, operation principles, and ways to overcome previous limitations. It also compares I²C with other serial interfaces such as SMBus, UART, SPI, CAN, USB, and IEEE‑1394, and discusses the benefits for designers.
Additional sections describe hardware configuration, bus terminology, address conflicts, capacitive loading limits, and tools for development and evaluation. The note was originally presented at DesignCon 2003 and includes slides and speaker notes incorporated into the text.
| Capacitive loading (Isolation) | > 400 pF |
|---|---|
| I²C maximum data rate | 400 kHz |
It gives a broad overview of the I²C bus, including technical details, operation, previous limitations, solutions, and a comparison with other serial buses.
The bus is limited to a wiring capacitance of 400 pF for standard I²C operation, and higher values are allowed only with buffering.