Now in the world of people keen on technology, there is a real "arduinomania". Thousands of articles, hundreds of blogs and forums are devoted to this little mysterious device. So what is this - Arduino? And why did it become so popular?
Arduino is a small electronic device, consisting of one printed circuit board, which can control different sensors, motors, lights, transmit and receive data … Arduino is a whole family of devices of different sizes and capabilities. And also this is a whole zoo of Arduino clones and the world of arduino-compatible devices. But let's talk about everything in order.
Arduino "brain"
The "brain" of the Arduino is an Atmega microcontroller. The microcontroller is a microprocessor with memory and various peripheral devices, implemented on a single microcircuit. In fact, it is a single-chip microcomputer capable of performing relatively simple tasks. Different models from the Arduino family are equipped with different microcontrollers.
The photo shows an Atmega328 microcontroller. Such microcontrollers are on and (but in a different case).
Arduino "hands"
But what is the use of the brain if it has no hands? The hands in this case are the electrical leads placed around the perimeter of the Arduino board. There are boards with a large number of pins, and there are with fewer. For example, the largest board in the Arduino family - - has more than 70 independent pins, and the smallest - only 22 pins.
The photo shows a comparison between the Arduino Mega and the Arduino Pro Mini.
Digital and analog outputs
Not all Arduino pins are the same. There are digital outputs, and there are analog ones. The fundamental difference between them is that there can be only two values on the digital pins: either a logical "1" (TRUE, from 3 to 5 volts), or a logical "0" (FALSE, from 0 to 1.5 volts), and on analog outputs - the range from logical 1 to 0 is divided into many small sections.
Why is this needed? Let's look at such an illustrative example. If you connect an LED to the digital pin of the Arduino and apply a logic "1" to the pin, the LED will light up with maximum brightness; if you give "0" - the LED will go out. There are no intermediate options. If the LED is connected to the analog output, the brightness of the LED can be controlled smoothly. In practice, analog outputs are most often connected to some kind of analog sensors.
What Arduino Can Control
As a result, the Arduino has so many "hands" that you can connect a huge number of different peripherals to it. Among them, for example:
- buttons,
- LEDs,
- microphones and speakers,
- electric motors and servos,
- LCD displays,
- RFID and NFC readers,
- ultrasonic and laser rangefinders,
- bluetooth, WiFi and Ethernet modules,
- SD card readers,
- GPS and GSM modules …
And also dozens of different sensors:
- illumination,
- magnetic field,
- gyroscopes and accelerometers,
- smoke and air quality sensors,
- temperature and humidity and much, much more.
All this makes the Arduino a versatile system core that can be configured in a wide variety of ways. Want to make a radio controlled pet feeder? You are welcome! Do you want the window to close on your loggia when it starts to rain? You are welcome! Do you want to control the brightness of lighting in the room from your smartphone? Easy!
The photo shows just a tiny fraction of the peripherals that can be connected to the Arduino. In fact, there are many, many more.
Communicating with Arduino
How does the processor know what exactly it should do? You must tell him this. There is a language for communicating with the microcontroller, simplified and adapted specifically for Arduino. Mastering this language is not at all difficult with the desire and a certain perseverance, even if you have never programmed before.
Writing messages for Arduino is called programming. And to simplify this process, a special software environment has been developed - Arduino IDE. It includes dozens of examples of good, working programs. Having studied them, you will very quickly learn a lot about the language of communication with Arduino.
Arduino allows your programs to go out of the virtual world and into the real world. You will be able to see how the programs you write make the LED blink or the motor shaft rotates, and then do more complex and useful things. Arduino will allow you to learn a lot of new and interesting things both in electronics and in programming. As a result, it can become an excellent hobby for you, an exciting activity with children, a wonderful and rewarding pastime.
