UNIT 1

Arduino cram
session
1.1 The Arduino Platform
1.2 Component overview
1.3 Prototyping environment

Rushikesh Deshmukh

UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

1.1 The Arduino Platform

Arduino
1. Arduino was introduced in 2005 (Ivrea, Italy), aiming to provide an inexpensive
and easy way for novices and professionals to create devices that interact with
their environment using sensors and actuators.
2. Arduino is an open-source computer hardware and software company, project
and user community that designs and manufactures microcontroller-based kits for
building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and control objects
in the physical world.
Open source is a development model that promotes universal access via a free
license to a product's design or blueprint, and universal redistribution of that design
or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone.
3. An Arduino board consists of an Atmel 8-, 16- or 32-bit AVR microcontroller
(although since 2015 other makers' microcontrollers have been used) with
complementary components that facilitate programming and incorporation into
other circuits.
4. An Arduino's microcontroller is pre-programmed with a boot loader that simplifies
uploading of programs to the on-chip flash memory, compared with other devices
that typically need an external programmer. This makes using an Arduino more
straightforward by allowing the use of an ordinary computer as the programmer.
5. An important aspect of the Arduino is its standard connectors, which lets users
connect the CPU board to a variety of interchangeable add-on modules known as
shields. Shields can provide motor controls, GPS, Ethernet, LCD, or breadboarding
(prototyping).
6. Arduino IDE (integrated development environment) is used to program arduino
boards in C and C++ programming languages over a serial connection.

Fun fact: The name "Arduino" comes from a bar in Ivrea, where some of the founders of
the project used to meet.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

Microcontroller

1. Microcontroller is an integrated circuit (IC) containing all main parts of a typical

computer, which are: Processor, Memories, Peripherals, Inputs and outputs.
2. Processor is the brain, the part where all decisions are taken and which can
calculate.
3. Memories are often both spaces where both the core inner-self program and the
user elements are running (generally called Read Only Memory (ROM) and
Random Access Memory (RAM)).
4. Peripherals by the self-peripherals contained in a global board; these are very
different types of integrated circuits with a main purpose: to support the processor
and to extend its capabilities.
5. Inputs and outputs are the ways of communication between the world (around
the microcontroller) and the microcontroller itself.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

Microprocessor and microcontroller
Microprocessor

Microcontroller

It is just a processor. Memory and I/O Micro controller has internal processor
components

have

to

be

connected along

externally.
Microprocessors

with

internal

memory

and

I/O

components.
are

based

on

von Micro controllers are based on Harvard

Neumann architecture where program and architecture where program memory and
data are stored in same memory module

Data memory are separate

Since memory, I/Os have to be connected Since

memory

and

I/Os

are

present

externally, the circuit becomes large and internally, the circuit is small and the cost of
the cost of the entire system increases

the entire system is low.

Due to external components, the entire Since external components are low, total
power consumption is high. Hence it is not power consumption is less and can be used
suitable to use with devices running on with devices running on stored power like
stored power like batteries.

batteries.

Since memory and I/O components are all Since components are internal, most of the
external, each instruction will need external operations are internal instruction, hence
operation, hence it is relatively slower.
Microprocessor
system.

is

heart

of

speed is fast.

Computer Micro Controller is a heart of embedded

system.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

Boot-loader, Firmware and Software
1. When we buy an Arduino, the processor, also named chipset, is pre-burnt. It has
been programmed by careful people in order to make our life easier.
2. The program already contained in the chipset is called the boot-loader. Basically, it
takes care of the very first moment of awakening of the processor life when you
supply it some power. But its major role is the load of our firmware, means our
compiled program.
3. A boot-loader is a computer program that loads an operating system.
4. Firmware is a type of software that provides control, monitoring and data
manipulation of engineered products and systems.
5. Software is any set of instructions that directs a computer to perform specific
operations.
6. The boot-loader is the hardware's software and the firmware is the user's software.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

1.2 Component Overview
Electronic Component
1. Electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an
electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields.
2. Components can be classified as passive, active, or electromechanic.
3. Active components rely on an energy source to operate. e.g. transistors, triode
vacuum tubes (valves).
4. Passive components dont rely on an energy source to operate, except for what is
available from the (AC) circuit they are connected to. e.g. resistors, capacitors,
inductors, diodes, and transformers.
5. Electromechanical components can carry out electrical operations by using
moving parts or by using electrical connections. e.g. relay, motors.
Resistor
1. A resistor is a component that resists the flow of current. It's one of the most basic
components used in electronic circuits.
2. Values specified in ohms (), kilo-ohms (K), or mega-ohms (M)
3. Marked with value using a color code

B B ROY Goes to Bombay with a Very Great Wife

0 1 234 5

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

4. Physical size of resistors determines power handling ability

5. Commonly available as 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, and 2 watt components
6. Much higher powers available , usually as wire-wound or ceramic encapsulated
parts
7. Resistors are not polarized and may be installed in either direction.
8. Resistors are not generally susceptible to ESD damage, so special precautions are
not required.
9. Mechanical stress due to lead bending should be minimized.
Capacitor
1. A capacitor is a device that can temporarily store an electric charge.
2. Different types of capacitors are ceramic disc, monolithic ceramic, tantalum, radial
electrolytic, axial electrolytic.
3. Values specified in microfarads (F) or pico-farads (pF)
4. Marked with actual value or a numeric code
5. Some varieties are +/- polarized

6. Physical size of capacitors is related to voltage handling ability WVDC working

voltage DC
7. Temperature coefficient may also be important can be + or or nearly zero
8. Temperature coefficient depends upon dielectric material
9. Most capacitors are not polarized and may be installed in either direction.
10. Electrolytic capacitors ARE polarized and MUST be installed with proper polarity,
else catastrophic failure!
11. Capacitors are not generally susceptible to ESD damage, so special precautions
are not required.
12. Mechanical stress due to lead bending should be minimized.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

Inductor
1. The function of an inductor is to store electrical energy in a magnetic field.
Inductors resist a change in the flow of the electrons.
2. Different types of inductors are air core, iron core, toroidal

3. Values specified in henries (H), milli-henries (mH) and micro-henries (H)

4. A coil of wire that may be wound on a core of air or other non-magnetic material,
or on a magnetic core such as iron powder or ferrite.
5. Two coils magnetically coupled form a transformer.
6. Wire gauge and physical size of the coil determine the current handling capacity.
7. Core material will have temperature dependence.
8. Inductors are not polarized and may be installed in either direction.
9. Inductors are not generally susceptible to ESD damage, so special precautions are
not required.
10. Mechanical stress due to lead bending should be minimized.
11. Inductors in timing or frequency determining circuits should be installed in a
mechanically rigid fashion.
Diode
1. A diode is a device that lets current flow in only one direction. A diode has two
terminals, called the anode and the cathode. Current will flow through the diode
only when positive voltage is applied to the anode and negative voltage to the
cathode. If these voltages are reversed, current will not flow.
2. A light-emitting diode (or LED) is a special type of diode that emits light when
current passes through it.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

3. Most modern diodes are semiconductor devices, but are considered passive since
they do not contribute any amplification or gain to a circuit.
4. Diodes are polarized and must be installed in with correct orientation.
5. Many diodes are modestly susceptible to ESD damage, so normal ESD
precautions should be taken.
6. Mechanical stress due to lead bending should be minimized.
Transistor
1. A transistor is a three-terminal device in which a voltage applied to one of the
terminals (called the base) can control current that flows across the other two
terminals (called the collector and the emitter). The transistor is one of the most
important devices in electronics.
2. Three terminal devices manufactured in a variety of package styles.

3. Transistors are polarized and must be installed in with correct orientation.

4. Most BJT transistors are modestly susceptible to ESD damage, so normal ESD
precautions should be taken.
5. MOSFET (IGFET) transistors are very susceptible to ESD damage, so rigorous
precautions should be taken.
6. Mechanical stress due to lead bending should be minimized.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

Integrated Circuits
1. An integrated circuit is a special component that contains an entire electronic
circuit, complete with transistors, diodes, and other elements, all photographically
etched onto a tiny piece of silicon. Integrated circuits are the building blocks of
modern electronic devices such as computers and cellphones.
2. Integrated circuits (ICs) are multi-terminal devices that provide an array of
functions and applications far to numerous.
3. ICs are polarized and must be installed with correct orientation. Observe pin 1
location on sockets or circuits.

4. Treat all ICs as if they are very susceptible to ESD damage (very many actually
are), so rigorous precautions should be taken.
5. Leads generally should not be bent.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

Arduino Uno R3

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

The Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P. It has 14 digital

input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz
quartz crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. There
is a built-in LED driven by digital pin 13. When the pin is HIGH value, the LED is on, when
the pin is LOW, it's off.

S. N.

Particulars

Specifications

Microcontroller

ATmega328P

Operating Voltage

5V

Input Voltage

7-12V

16 MHz

Clock Speed
Programming
hardware
Flash Memory

SRAM

2 KB

EEPROM

1 KB

ADC

10

Communication

11

External Interrupts

10-bit
Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX)
SPI: 10 (SS), 11 (MOSI), 12 (MISO), 13 (SCK)
TWI: A4 (SDA) and A5 (SCL)
2 and 3

12

Digital I/O Pins

14 (of which 6 provide PWM output) ( 0 to 13)

13

PWM Digital I/O Pins

6 (3,5,6,9,10,11)

14

Analog Input Pins

6 (A0 to A5) 10-bit ADC

15

DC Current per I/O Pin 20 mA

S. N.

USB, ICSP
32 KB (of which 0.5 KB used by boot-loader)

Particulars
Input Voltage

Absolute maximum rating

6-20V

DC Current per I/O Pin

40.0 mA

DC Current VCC and GND Pins

200.0 mA

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

Revision 3 of the board has the following new features:

1. Atmega 16U2 replace the 8U2.
2. Stronger RESET circuit.
3. Added SDA and SCL pins that are near to the AREF pin.
4. Two new pins placed near to the RESET pin.
IOREF that allow the shields to adapt to the voltage provided from the board. In
future, shields will be compatible with both the board that uses the AVR, which
operates with 5V and with the Arduino Due that operates with 3.3V.
The second pin is a not connected; it is reserved for future purposes.
1.3 Prototyping Environment
1. In electronics, prototyping means building an actual circuit to a theoretical design
to verify that it works, and to provide a physical platform for debugging it if it does
not.
2. The prototype is often constructed using techniques such as wire wrapping or
using breadboard, with the result being a circuit that is electrically identical to the
design but not physically identical to the final product.
3. Open-source tools like Fritzing exist to document electronic prototypes (especially
the breadboard-based ones) and move toward physical production.
4. Prototyping platforms such as Arduino also simplify the task of programming and
interacting with a microcontroller. The developer can choose to deploy their
invention as-is using the prototyping platform, or replace it with only the
microcontroller chip and the circuitry that is relevant to their product.
5. A technician can quickly build a prototype (and make additions and modifications)
using these techniques, but for volume production it is much faster and usually
cheaper to mass-produce custom printed circuit boards than to produce these
other kinds of prototype boards.
Breadboard
1. A breadboard (also referred as solder-less board) is a construction base for
prototyping of electronics.
2. Because the solderless breadboard does not require soldering, it is reusable. This
makes it easy to use for creating temporary prototypes and experimenting with
circuit design. For this reason, solderless breadboards are also extremely popular
with students and in technological education.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

3. A modern solderless breadboard consists of a perforated block of plastic with

numerous tin plated phosphor bronze or nickel silver alloy spring clips under the
perforations. The clips are often called tie points or contact points.
4. The layout of a typical solderless breadboard is made up from two types of areas,
called strips. Strips consist of interconnected electrical terminals.
Terminal strips: The main areas, to hold most of the electronic components.
Bus strips: To provide power to the electronic components. A bus strip usually
contains two columns: one for ground and one for a supply voltage.

5. Jumper wires are used for solderless breadboarding. Differently colored wires and
color-coding discipline are often adhered to for consistency.
6. Limitations
a) Due to relatively large stray capacitance compared to a properly laid out PCB,
high inductance of some connections and a relatively high and not very
reproducible contact resistance, solderless breadboards are limited to
operation at relatively low frequencies, usually less than 10 MHz.
b) The relatively high contact resistance can already be a problem for some DC
and very low frequency circuits.
c) Solderless breadboards are further limited by their voltage and current ratings.
d) Solderless

breadboards

usually

cannot

accommodate

surface-mount

technology devices (SMD) or components with grid spacing other than 0.1 in
(2.54 mm). Further, they cannot accommodate components with multiple rows
of connectors if these connectors don't match the dual in-line layoutit is
impossible to provide the correct electrical connectivity. Sometimes small PCB
adapters called "breakout adapters" can be used to fit the component to the

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

board. However, the need to solder the components onto the adapter negates
some of the advantage of using a solderless breadboard.
e) Very complex circuits can become unmanageable on a solderless breadboard
due to the large amount of wiring required. The very convenience of easy
plugging and unplugging of connections also makes it too easy to accidentally
disturb a connection, and the system becomes unreliable.
Fritzing
1. Fritzing is an open source software initiative to support designers, artists,
researchers and hobbyists to work creatively with interactive electronics.
2. It is used to document Arduino-based prototype and create a PCB layout for
manufacturing.
3. There are a lot of components already designed especially for Fritzing and you can
even create yours quite easily.
4. Inside Fritzing there are four different views available
Breadboard view is the one that looks the most like what we have in front of us on
the table. You represent all wires and you connect a virtual breadboard to your
Arduino and directly plug components.
Schematic view is automatically build while sketching in the breadboard view.
And while making a schematic, Fritzing automatically connects the components in
the breadboard view.
PCB view creates a PCB layout for manufacturing.
Code view where one can modify code and upload it directly to an Arduino device.
5. The Fritzing community helps users share and discuss drafts and experiences as
well as to reduce manufacturing costs.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

$ Question bank $
1. Explain in brief about Arduino and the open source development model.
2. What do you understand about the following
a) Open source development model
b) Boot-loader
c) Arduino shield
3. Draw and explain the basic block diagram of a microcontroller. Enlist the
advantages of microcontroller over a microprocessor.
4. Discuss the key differences between a microprocessor and a microcontroller?
5. How do you compare a boot-loader, firmware and software for Arduino?
6. Enlist the specifications and absolute maximum rating of Arduino Uno R3 board.
7. What are new features included in Arduino Uno revision 3 board?
8. What do you mean by an electronic component? On what basis, electronic
components can be classified?
9. Explain the function, types, units, polarity, ESD protection requirements and
mounting precautions to be taken for the following components
a) Resistors
b) Capacitors
c) Inductors
d) Diodes
e) Transistors
f) Integrated circuits
10. Explain the following in detail
a) Active components
b) Passive components
11. Identify the values of resistors from following color codes
a) Blue-Grey-Brown, Gold
b) Brown-Black-Green, Gold
c) Brown-Green-Orange, Silver
d) Red-Red-Orange, Silver
12. Write down the color codes for the following resistors
a) 470 with 5% tolerance
b) 5.1 k with 10% tolerance
c) 1.8 M with 5% tolerance
d) 36 k with 10% tolerance
13. Explain prototyping in electronics.

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UNIT 1 | Arduino Cram Session

14. What is the significance of breadboards in hardware prototyping?

15. Point out the limitations of breadboards in prototyping with suitable justification.
16. How Fritzing open source software works from prototyping to finished product?
17. Draw the circuit diagram from the breadboard view given below

18. Draw the circuit diagram from the breadboard view given below

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