Systems and methods for low-power single-wire communication are provided. In some embodiments, a method of operation of a transmitter to transmit a data word to a receiver using low-power single-wire communication includes receiving the data word to be transmitted to the receiver. The method also includes encoding the data word to be transmitted in a Pulsed Index Communication (PIC) format to produce a PIC data word and transmitting the PIC data word to the receiver. In this way, the transmitter may be able to transmit an increased amount of data while maintaining a simple communication protocol that uses low power and does not require a Clock-Data Recovery circuit.