Arduino
The Arduino is a popular and inexpensive 8-bit development platform, with three principal products (the Arduino Uno, Arduino Leonardo, and Arduino Mega).
Featuring 5-volt operation and impressive Output Drive, this microcontroller platform is not to be underestimated.
Arduino Uno
Architecture: 8-bit Atmel AVR |
Processor: ATmega328P |
Languages: C (Arduino IDE) |
Clock: 16 MHz |
Vcore: 5.0 V |
Vio: 5.0 V |
Power: 150 mW |
Flash: 31 KB |
RAM: 2 KB |
GPIO: 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output) |
Peripherals: 6x Analog-Digital Converter (5.0 V, 10-bit) UART, SPI, I2C |
As an evolution of the first Arduino boards (first the Arduino USB, then the NG, next the Diecimila, the Duemilanove, and finally the Uno), the Arduino Uno has been refined countless times while retaining good shield compatibility and a stable code base.
Features
Widely used; code examples are easy to find and comprehensive
Form factor fits hundreds of aftermarket shields which provide ready-made functionality
Phenomenal 40 mA output drive (Slew Rate is actually faster than the system clock!)
Arduino IDE makes development relatively easy, and library is chunky but easy to use
Bootloader makes the impact of programming errors small and reprogramming easy over USB
Shortcomings
Low performance; performing Object Recognition on this device is out of the question
Very little program memory or RAM available
Peripheral set very limited; general purpose I/O are scarce (only one hardware USART, I2C takes over Analog inputs)
Since surpassed for high-performance usage by other, form-factor compatible platforms such as the Netduino and LeafLabs Maple
History
Getting used to programming on the confines of an Arduino steeps one's understanding with the fundamentals of embedded program design. SIGBots therefore recommends that newcomers to embedded systems programming (particularly those on robot programming or electronics subteams) take their first steps on an Arduino Uno. The comprehensive array of code samples also makes it a good choice for personal experimentation.
Arduino Leonardo
Architecture: 8-bit Atmel AVR |
Processor: ATmega32U4 |
Languages: C (Arduino IDE) |
Clock: 16 MHz |
Vcore: 5.0 V |
Vio: 5.0 V |
Power: 100 mW |
Flash: 28 KB |
RAM: 2 KB |
GPIO: 23 |
Peripherals:12x Analog-Digital Converter (5.0 V, 10-bit) UART, SPI, I2C |
Arduino Mega
Architecture: 8-bit Atmel AVR |
Processor: ATmega2560 |
Language: C (Arduino IDE) |
Clock: 16 MHz |
Vcore:: 5.0 V |
Vio: 5.0 V |
Power: 250 mW |
Flash: 256 KB |
RAM: 8 KB |
GPIO: 54 |
Peripherals: 16x Analog-Digital Converter (5.0 V, 10-bit), 4x UART, SPI, I2C |
The Arduino Mega is an expanded version of the Arduino meant for memory or IO-hungry projects. It costs twice as much as a regular Arduino and is nearly two times larger, but fails to make significant progress in CPU power.
Teams Contributed to this Article:
BLRS (Purdue SIGBots)
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