Microcontroller Platform

What is a microcontroller?
microcontroller
microcontroller

MICROCONTROLLER

MICROPROCESSOR
WHAT IS
what is

•
open-source
microcontroller board

•prototyping • ATmega328P
powerful chip

•
tool
electronics
PROGRAMMING
what is

Open-source physical computing platform based on a

single-board computing device and a development
environment for writing software.

Arduino Diecimila
PARTS OF

MICROCONTROLLER
 PARTS OF AN

ATmega328 •
microcontroller
The black chip in the middle of
the board is an ATmega328P.
This is the “brains” of the
Arduino: it interprets both the
inputs / outputs and the
programming code uploaded
onto your Arduino. The other
components on the board allow
you to communicate with this
chip when creating projects.
PARTS OF AN

The USB port takes a standard

A-to-B USB cable, often seen on
printers or other computer
peripherals. The USB port
serves two purposes: First, it is
the cable connection to a
computer which allows you to

usb
program the board. The USB
TYPE-B cord will also provide power for
the Arduino if you’re not using

connector the power port

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barrel • Arduino boards can be powered directly

from the AC mains power supply by

JACK connecting it to the Barrel Jack

• The power port includes a barrel-style
2.1mm connector which allows for either power
straight from a wall source (often called a
wall-wart) or from a battery. This power is
used instead of the USB cable. The Arduino
can take a wide range of voltages (5V –
20V) but will be damaged if power higher
than that is connected.
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RESET
button
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RESET Much like turning your computer off

and on again, some problems with the
button Arduino can be solved by pushing the
reset button. This button will restart
the code currently uploaded on your
Arduino. The reset button may be in a
different location on your board than in
this diagram, but it is the only button.
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• reset
• +3.3v
• 5v
• GND

power
HEADER
Pins (5V, 3.3V, GND, Analog,
Digital, PWM, AREF)
The pins on your Arduino are the places where you connect wires to construct a circuit (probably in
conjuction with a breadboard and some wire. They usually have black plastic ‘headers’ that allow you
to just plug a wire right into the board. The Arduino has several different kinds of pins, each of which
is labeled on the board and used for different functions.
•GND (3): Short for ‘Ground’. There are several GND pins on the Arduino, any of which can be used
to ground your circuit.
•5V (4) & 3.3V (5): As you might guess, the 5V pin supplies 5 volts of power, and the 3.3V pin
supplies 3.3 volts of power. Most of the simple components used with the Arduino run happily off of 5
or 3.3 volts.
•Analog (6): The area of pins under the ‘Analog In’ label (A0 through A5 on the UNO) are Analog In
pins. These pins can read the signal from an analog sensor (like a temperature sensor) and convert it
into a digital value that we can read.
Pins (5V, 3.3V, GND, Analog,
Digital, PWM, AREF)
The pins on your Arduino are the places where you connect wires to construct a circuit (probably in
conjuction with a breadboard and some wire. They usually have black plastic ‘headers’ that allow you
to just plug a wire right into the board. The Arduino has several different kinds of pins, each of which
is labeled on the board and used for different functions.
• Digital (7): Across from the analog pins are the digital pins (0 through 13 on the UNO). These pins can be
used for both digital input (like telling if a button is pushed) and digital output (like powering an LED).
• PWM (8): You may have noticed the tilde (~) next to some of the digital pins (3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 on the
UNO). These pins act as normal digital pins, but can also be used for something called Pulse-Width
Modulation (PWM). We have a tutorial on PWM, but for now, think of these pins as being able to simulate
analog output (like fading an LED in and out).
•
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DIGITAL The holes on this

side of the board
are called the
pins digital
input/output pins
DP 0 to 13 They are used to
DP 14 to 19 either sense the
outside world
(input) or control
lights, sounds, or
 PARTS OF AN

These pins take sensor

readings in a range of
values (analog), rather
than just sending
analog whether something is
just on or off (digital).
input AO to A5
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analog
output
PINS
~3, ~5, ~6
~9, ~10, ~11
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Stands for Analog Reference.

Most of the time you can leave
this pin alone. It is sometimes
used to set an external
reference voltage (between 0
and 5 Volts) as the upper limit
for the analog input pins.

AREF
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TX RX
LEDs
TX is short for transmit, RX is short for receive. These markings appear quite a bit in electronics to
indicate the pins responsible for serial communication. In our case, there are two places on the
Arduino UNO where TX and RX appear -- once by digital pins 0 and 1, and a second time next to the
TX and RX indicator LEDs . These LEDs will give us some nice visual indications whenever our
Arduino is receiving or transmitting data (like when we’re loading a new program onto the board).
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The voltage regulator converts

power plugged into the power
port into the 5 volts and 1 amp
standard used by the Arduino.
BE CAREFUL! This component
gets very hot.

Voltage
Regulator
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