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Understanding with Microcontrollers

Too much technical jargon makes learning how to use a Microcontroller harder than it needs to be.

Here is the most basic knowledge you need to know to understand Microcontrollers…

- A Microcontroller Unit…MCU for short…is a tiny, “slow” (8MHz) to moderately fast (140MHz) little computer with a small amount of onboard memory (32kb to 4gb) to store a program. It is the Brain of an intelligent electronics system.

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  • The little legs sticking out of the main body (the square silver in the image below) of the MCU are commonly called Pins…think of them as Connection Ports to access the features of the little computer…like USB ports on a normal PC. Pinout Diagrams are indispensible to understand what each of these pins connect to…inside the chip. The pins you will be using the most are…
    • GPIO > General Purpose Input/Output…Analog & Digital types
    • GND > Ground
    • VCC > 5V or 3.3V
    • PWM > Pulse Width Modulation, indicated with the tilde mark

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For full, highly detailed information about an MCU, refer to its datasheet which can be found on the internet.

  • MCUs are typically embedded into a Development Board (DevBoard) which makes it easier for users to access the features of the little computer…by providing wire sockets to make it more convenient to connect the MCU pins. Some other nice features of a DevBoard to make using MCUs more convenient include things like extra GND pins, onboard LED for testing and debugging, power regulator and USB connector to make interfacing with a PC easier.
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  • Connections to the MCU from external peripheral device (think keyboard or mouse for a PC) are typically done with wires normally called Jumper Wires.
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  • MCUs are programmed by connecting wires to some of its pins…which in turn is connected to a PC. On a DevBoard, a programming connection between the MCU and a PC is usually done with a USB cableconnected to the DevBoard’s USB connector.
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  • MCUs are typically used in Embedded Electronics projects…a small electronics circuit that performs a limited set of functions…usually hidden away inside of (embedded) some enclosure or object. They are perfect for adding “intelligence” to ordinary objects (like touch activation or color changing features for a lamp)…because of their small size and low power consumption.

  • There are many different MCU chips available to choose from and they differ in…

    • …their basic architecture
    • …their chip speed
    • …their onboard Flash (program) memory storage capacity
    • …the number and types of connection pins it has (to connect external peripherals)
    • …their power requirement/tolerance
    • …their output pin “logic” voltage
    • …their special features > Analog to Digital converter, Digital to Analog converter, Wireless communication capability, etc.
      …the choice of which MCU to use for your project will depend on what requirements you will need from it.