This document discusses embedded systems and serial communication. It defines an embedded system as an electronic system with both hardware and software that is used for specific tasks. Embedded systems have characteristics like speed, size, power consumption, reliability, and adaptability. Serial communication allows data transfer between circuits using a single wire, transmitting one bit at a time asynchronously without an external clock. Common serial interfaces include asynchronous serial communication, SPI, I2C, USB, and Ethernet. Asynchronous serial communication uses start bits, data bits, optional parity bits, and stop bits to synchronize and transmit data between devices.