I thought it would be interesting to compare the speeds of various Arduino boards, from older designs to the newest microcontrollers. I looked at the following: Note that the Nano 33 IoT, the Nano RP2040, and the Uno R4 (WiFi version) all have an ESP32 as a coprocessor for the radio functionality. The Nano ESP32 …
Traditional Arduino boards, like the Uno R3 or Nano, are typically programmed using the Arduino Library functions. These conveniently present most of the microcontroller’s functionality to the hobbyist user. Books like my Far Inside The Arduino and the microcontroller’s documentation show how to access additional functionality not addressed by the Arduino Library. As more advanced …
The map function takes a long integer value, x, in the range in_min through in_max and maps it into the range out_min through out_max. It is very convenient for scaling measurements and the function is defined: It is important to realize some limitations of this function. Some Arduino models define a function mapResolution that does …
The Arduino Uno R4 Minima seemingly has a purpose of eventually replacing the Arduino Uno R3. It’s a 5 volt board with the same form factor as the earlier Uno that seemingly offers more performance (speed and memory capacity) at a 25% lower price point. People are finding flaws in that it has lower current …
The EEPROM library (https://docs.arduino.cc/learn/built-in-libraries/eeprom) has functions for reading and writing single bytes but no function for erasing. The EEPROM in the AVR microcontrollers are capable of erasing and writing single bytes and 100,000 erase/write cycles in a location is the design maximum before the EEPROM will wear out. To maintain compatibility, the EEPROM functions in …
Today I got the new Arduino Uno R4 boards in the mail. This includes the Minima and Wifi models, but this post will just concern itself with the Minima. The R4 Minima is much less expensive than the R3, but still a bit more than a good R3 clone like the Elegoo. You can see …
A friend of mine, David Sparks, is using a SAMD based board (a Seeedstudio XIAO) to be a real time clock. You can see his project here: https://github.com/IowaDave/SAMD21-RTC-Clock. The SAMD has a Real Time Counter which can be configured as a Real Time Clock (RTC=RTC!) eliminating the need for a second component. However when run …
I’ve touted the Arduino Nano Every and the Arduino Nano 33 IoT as the two best buys in the Arduino lineup, and that they should be preferred when appropriate to the application. But why are these such good deals? First, they are both in the “Nano” form factor. This smaller board is less expensive to …
As I’ve been going far inside the SAMD21 Arduino boards, I’ve realized the main distinction of the ARM-core SAMD21 compared to the AVR architecture ATMega microcontrollers, and indeed to other microcontrollers I’ve used in the past. The ARM-core microcontrollers are actually a two part design. There is the ARM designed processor core, and the vendor …
Like most of the AVR-based Arduino boards, there is a bootloader program resident on the SAMD boards (Arduino Zero, Arduino Nano 33 IoT, and the Arduino MKR series) to handle the loading of programs (AKA “Scripts”) via the USB-serial port. This program can erase and write into the Flash ROM in the microcontroller, and start …