Arduino Components: FTDI FT232RL (USB/Serial Converter)

Arduino is not a USB 100% device, if we examine it we will find this information, Arduino is a Serial device but has the ability to be connected to the USB port. The FTDI FT232RL plays the rule of converting between Serial and USB protocols.

This is a photo of the FT232RL (Circled in red):

The data written on the chip are:

FTDI

0922-B

B63264.1

FT232RL

The idea of Arduino communication is: PC sends serial data via the USB port, FT232RL receive that data and convert them to their original state (Serial Data) and transfer them to the Arduino mind (AtMega328P), AtMega328P sends data to PC through FT232RL, so the FT232RL helps Arduino send & receive serial data through a USB port.

Nowadays serial ports are hiding from new PCs. FT232RL make it more convenient to plug your Arduino to almost all computers all over the world. Speed of data transfer for FT232RL is from 300 baud (300 bits per second) to 3 Mbaud, Arduino does not need more than 115200 baud, so when we write sketches in Arduino IDE we specify the baud speed for example:

void setup() {

Serial.begin(9600);         // opens serial port, sets data rate to 9600 bps

}

void loop() {}

We mention the speed as 9600 baud.

FT232RL can (as it stated in datasheet) be found in many devices 

such as bar code readers, cameras, mp3 players, smart card readers and many other electronic devices.

Serial communication is very good for Arduino family, its simplicity enable us to implement Arduino in many applications the serial communication through a USB interface is an excellent feature of Arduino.