ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Serial Peripheral Interface Bus

Hello there!

A Serial Peripheral Interface bus (or SPI, for short) is like a secret messaging system that electronic devices can use to talk with each other.

Think of the SPI bus as a group of friends who only talk to each other in whispers. Each friend has a special language that only they understand, and they can use it to share secrets with each other.

These friends are actually electronic devices and the special language they use is digital signals. They use wires to send and receive these signals to each other, just like how friends can pass notes to each other in class.

There are four main wires that make up the SPI bus, and each one has a special job:

- MOSI: This wire is used to send data from one device to another. It stands for "Master Out Slave In".
- MISO: This wire is used to receive data from one device to another. It stands for "Master In Slave Out".
- SCLK: This wire is used to keep all the devices in sync with each other, kind of like a conductor keeping an orchestra in time. It stands for "Serial Clock".
- CS: This wire is used to select which device the data is meant for. Think of it like calling out someone's name when you want to give them a message. It stands for "Chip Select".

When a master device (like a microcontroller) wants to talk to a slave device (like a sensor), it will first send a signal on the CS wire to select that device. Then, it will send data over the MOSI wire, while the slave device receives it on the MISO wire. They will keep doing this until they're done exchanging messages, and then the master will "de-select" the device by setting the CS wire back to its original state.

So that's basically what the SPI bus is! It's a way for electronic devices to talk to each other in a secret language, using special wires to send and receive digital signals.