Asynchronous receiver/transmitter provides full duplex asynchronous communications with 128B FIFO buffer

Zilog ZDU digital universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) ICs, stocked by Mouser, provide full duplex asynchronous communications with a 128B FIFO (First In, First Out) buffer. The FIFO buffer allocates 64 bytes each to the receive and transmit operations. These communications devices also contain a 4KB EEPROM and general purpose input and output (GPIO) with programmable interrupt capability. They feature an internal 8MHz oscillator, eliminating the need for external crystal oscillators. The user controls the digital UART by the I2C protocol (2-Wire Interface). Up to eight devices are allowed in the same I2C network. These fully programmable UART ICs are preconfigured to operate at a 57.6kb/s rate so configuration is not required to access the UART or the EEPROM. They provide separate programmable interrupts and interrupt lines for UART notification and GPIO notifications. These separate interrupts and interrupt lines mean the controlling device does not have to poll the UART ICs for data. These devices are suitable for point of sale devices, communication bridges, process control, building/automation control, terminal servers and print systems.