What Is the I2C Bus? Two Wires Behind the IoT (opens in new tab)

Open up almost any connected device on your desk, from a smart thermostat to a fitness band to a hobbyist ESP32 board, and you will find a quiet workhorse linking its chips together: the I2C bus. It is one of the most widely used communication protocols in embedded systems, and it has been doing the same elegant job since 1982. The remarkable part is how little it needs to do that job. Two wires. That is it. A protocol built to save wires In the early 1980s, engineers at Philips Semiconductor...