What is Arduino ?

Introduction

Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. Arduino is a micro-controller which is available in different specification. With the Arduino, you can design and build projects that can interact with its surroundings. The Arduino boards are basically a tool/board for controlling electronics. Arduino is able to read inputs with their onboard microcontroller like read the sensor data and have ability to give the output according to the code.

Arduino UNO

Arduino has an IDE which is used to write a code and run in it and it support C & C++ programming languages. You can download the latest Arduino IDE from here Download


Why Arduino?

There are many microcontroller boards out there, why use the Arduino board? Well, there are many reasons that make this microcontroller special. there are many reasons to use Arduino :-

[1] Using Arduino you can make many project because it is easy to use and easily available in market and it is not costly also.

[2] Arduino programming easy to learn because its IDE uses C & C++ for coding.

[3] Arduino has all important protocols also which helps to build any type of project with this.

[4] It does not requires more power to run it and it can oprate with the supply of laptop/computer .

[5] All the codes and library also available on the internet so it is easy to find project on Arduino and these all features make it easy for new person who wants to make project with coding.


Types of Arduino

At the time of project selection microcontroller selection can be biggest task because this can be change your whole project budget and also your project working may affect if you does not select a proper board.

Arduino has many differentd-different board according to the project requirements. So if you want to make a project then first go through your requirement like what should be the RAM ,ROM and clock speed and then select board according to your project. There are many board and all boards has different specification and prices also. So let’s go through all types of Arduino board.


Arduino UNO

This board is very famous in all Arduino board, because this board comes up with numerous features that helps the user to use this in their project. The Arduino UNO uses the Atmega16U2 microcontroller that helps to increase the transfer rate and contain large memory compared to other boards.

Arduino UNO

The board contains 14 digital input pins and output pins in which 6 pins are used as PWM, 6 pins as analog inputs, USB connection, reset button and one power jack. The Arduino UNO board can be attached to computer system buy USB port and also get power supply to board from computer system.

Specification:-

  • Operating Voltage: 5 Volts
  • Digital I/O Pins: 14 (of which 6 can provide PWM output)
  • DC Current per I/O Pin: 20 mA
  • DC Current for 3.3V Pin: 50 mA
  • Flash Memory: 32 KB
  • SRAM: 2 KB
  • EEPROM: 1 KB
  • Clock Speed: 16 MHz

Arduino Mega

This Arduino Mega has all things extra than Arduino UNO and if you have more umber of input/output or your project has more sensor so this is the best for your project because it has more numbers of I/O Pins.Mega microcontroller uses the Atmega2560 in it. There are total 54 input pins and output pins in it in which 14 pins are of PWM output, 4 pins are of hardware port, 16 pins as analog inputs. 

Arduino Mega

Specification:-

  • Microcontroller: ATmega2560
  • Operating Voltage: 5V
  • Digital I/O Pins: 54 (of which 15 provide PWM output)
  • Flash Memory: 256 KB
  • SRAM: 8 KB
  • EEPROM: 4 KB
  • Clock Speed: 16 MHz
Arduino Leonardo

The Leonardo is the latest version after the UNO with an improved USB interface chip. It has 500mA fuse to protect your computer’s USB port. The Leonardo is pin and code-compatible with the UNO ,and it also look like Arduino UNO.

Arduino Leonardo

So this board is uses when your power requirement is more and another advantage of this board it has micro-USB for to connect from laptop/computer.

Specification :-

  • Input Voltage (limits):6-20V
  • Digital I/O Pins:20
  • PWM Channels : 7
  • Analog Input Channels:12
  • DC Current per I/O Pin:40 mA
  • DC Current for 3.3V Pin:50 mA
  • Flash Memory:32 KB
  • SRAM:2.5 KB (ATmega32u4)
  • EEPROM:1 KB (ATmega32u4)
  • Clock Speed:16 MHz
Lilypad Arduino

Lilypad Arduino is design for low power consumption and also it is small in size so and it is mostly used in wearable devices or in any gadgets which are small in size.

Lilypad Arduino

It has all things like RAM,ROM as compared to Arduino UNO but if your first priority is size and design then go for this.

Specification :-

  • Operating Voltage 2.7-5.5 V
  • Input Voltage 2.7-5.5 V
  • Digital I/O Pins 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)
  • Analog Input Pins 6
  • DC Current per I/O Pin 40 mA
  • Flash Memory 16 KB
  • SRAM 1 KB

There are few more Arduino board like Nano & Mini but these approximately same specification as compared to Arduino UNO if you want to learn about that just click on that then you can get more information about these boards. Let’s talk about the application of Arduino.

Application :-

There are many application of Arduino board we can make an Home-Automation using this which can switch the home light with the help of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and there are many sensor by Arduino we can read the data and manipulate according to our requirements with the help of coding.

As Arduino gives a ease of programming so this thing give us a better use and it does not require pre knowledge about any microcontroller so if you know little bit coding you can build many project with the help of Arduino and this is the main reason Arduino is famous in all electronics and electrical field .

So with this information I stop here ,if you want to learn making project with Arduino please go and check out all the projects about Arduino, there are YouTube videos also available of all individual projects and if you have doubt about this article please comment down I’ll try to answer as soon as possible.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *