Introduction to Arduino Nano Every
Hi Guys! I welcome you on board. Thank you for clicking this read. In this post today, I’ll detail the Introduction to Arduino Nano Every.
Arduino Nano Every is a tiny powerful board that is based on the ATMega4809 AVR processor. It comes with a clock speed of around 20MHz and flash memory of around 48KB. It carries two 15 pin connectors on each side of the board that are pin-pin compatible with the Arduino Nano Every.
The low price and small size make this board an ideal pick for the range of electrical projects like electronic musical instruments, low-cost robots, and general development of the small parts of the large projects.
Needless to say, Arduino has been a cornerstone of many electronic projects ranging from simple student projects to complex automation and embedded projects. The working of this tiny beast is simple and straightforward. It takes the input like a finger on a button or light on a sensor and converts it into an output like turning on the motor, activating LED blinking, and something sharing online.
You can use Arduino IDE software to program the Arduino board. In other words, you can control the board by sending a lot of instructions to the microcontroller of the board. The Arduino comes with easy to use hardware and software platform that even a non-tech person can get a hands-on experience without having prior technical knowledge about these boards.
I suggest you read this post till the end as I’ll walk you through the complete Introduction to Arduino Nano Every covering datasheet, pinout, pin description, features, and applications.
Let’s get started.
Introduction to Arduino Nano Every
- Arduino Nano Every is a tiny powerful board that is based on the ATMega4809 AVR processor.
- The Arduino Nano Every is almost similar to the Arduino Nano board with the addition of a more powerful processor like Atmega4809.
- This board comes with more program memory compared to Arduino Uno and RAM is 200% bigger, helping you create a lot of variables.
- If you’ve used Arduino Nano earlier for your project, you’ll come to know the Arduino Nano Every board is a pin-equivalent substitute of Arduino Nano. The difference lies in the addition of a micro-USB connector and a more powerful processor.
- Arduino Nano Every is available in two versions: with or without headers, helping you incorporate this board into hard-to-reach places including wearables.
- No components are available on the B-side, this gives you the ability to solder the board directly into your main PCB design, reducing the height of the entire project.
- It carries a crystal oscillator with a clock speed of around 20MHz which is necessary to synchronize all internal functions of the board.
- The SRAM memory is 6KB while the flash memory and EEPROM memories are 48KB and 256bytes respectively.
- The flash memory is the location where the Arduino program (sketch) is stored. While SRAM is used to generate and manipulate variables when it starts running. And the EEPROM is a non-volatile memory which means data stays stored inside the board even if the board power is removed.
Arduino Nano Every Datasheet
While working with this board, it’s better to look into the datasheet of the board that features the main characteristics of the board. Click the link below to download the datasheet of Arduino Nano Every.
Arduino Nano Every Pinout
The following figure shows the pinout diagram of Arduino Nano Every.
There is a built-in LED at pin 13 and it also features one power LED that turns on when the board is supplied with power.
Arduino Nano Every Pin Description
Still reading? Perfect.
I hope you’ve read the brief intro of this Every board. In this section, we’ll highlight the description of each pin incorporated on the board. Let’s get started.
Digital Pins
20 digital I/O pins are incorporated on this device which you can use as an input or output based on the requirements. These pins are either in a HIGH state or LOW state. When they are LOW they receive V0 and when they are HIGH they receive 5V.
Analog Pins
The number of analog pins incorporated on the board is 8. These are analog pins which projects they can receive any number of values in contrast to Digital pins that only receive two values i.e. HIGH or LOW
PWM Pins
The number of PWM pins incorporated on the board is 5. The board creates analog results with digital means when these pins are activated.
I2C Pins
This board incorporates a two-wire communication protocol which is known as I2C protocol. It carries two lines i.e. SCL and SDA.
The SCL is a serial clock line mainly used for the synchronization of all data transfer through the I2C bus and the SDA is a serial data line mainly used to carry the data.
SPI Pins
This device comes with SPI (serial peripheral interface) pins that are mainly used to lay out the communication between the controller and other peripheral devices such as sensors or shift registers. There are two pins: MISO (Master Input Slave Output) and MOSI (Master Output Slave Input) used for SPI communication. These pins are employed to receive or send data by the controller.
UART Pins
The UART pins are used for serial communication. It carries two lines Tx and Rx. The Tx is used to transmit the serial data while Rx is used to receive the serial data.
Arduino Nano Every Features
The following are the main features of Arduino Nano Every.
Operating Voltage = 5V
Microcontroller = Atmega4809
Vin range = 7 to 21 V
D/C current per 3.3V pin = 50mA
D/C current per I/O pin = 20mA
Oscillator = 20MHz
EEPROM = 256bytes
SRAM = 6KB
Flash Memory = 48KB
LED_BUILTIN = 13
USB = 1
UART = 1
SPI = 1
I2C = 1
Digital Pins = 20
Analog Pins = 8
PWM pins = 5
Size = 18x45 mm
Weight = 5g
Programming
- Arduino IDE (integrated development environment) is used to program this board. This software is used to program all kinds of Arduino boards.
- This device contains a built-in Bootloader which is used to burn the program inside the controller. Yes, you don’t need a separate burner to burn and transfer the program into the controller.
- Moreover, it also carries a micro USB port which is used to connect the device with the computer. Using this port, you can test and run the program directly from the computer.
Difference between Arduino Nano Every and Arduino Nano
- The Nano carries microcontroller ATmega 328p which is the same as Uno.
- While the Nano Every and Uno WiFi Rev 2 are incorporated with a modern version of the AVR based MCU known as megaAVR_0-series, an ATmega4809.
- It carries the same AVR CPU architecture in the base of the MCU so initially, both MCUs (Atmega 328p and Atmega 4809) share the same compiler but there lies a difference in MCU peripherals configuration. So know that the previous knowledge about AVR MCU peripherals won’t help here.
- The Arduino Nano Every is priced lower than Arduino Nano.
Arduino Nano Every Applications
The small size of this board makes it a good pick for a number of applications. Following are some applications of this board.
- USB Trackpad
- Automatic Pill Dispenser
- USB Joystick
- Electric Bike
- Creating a wireless keyboard
- Water Level Meter
That was all about the Introduction to Arduino Nano Every. If you have any queries, you can approach me in the comment section below. I’d try to help you according to the best of my expertise. Feel free to share your valuable feedback and suggestions around the content we share so we keep producing quality content based on your needs and requirements. Thank you for reading the article.
Introduction to Arduino MKR Vidor 4000
Hey Everyone! Hope you’re well today. I welcome you on board. In this post today, I’ll walk you through the Introduction to Arduino MKR Vidor 4000.
The Arduino MKR Vidor 4000 is a powerful board with which you can develop your own controller board. The inclusion of FPGA makes this device unique and separate from other Arduino boards available in the market. With this FPGA feature, you can do audio and video processing which is not possible with other Arduino boards.
Using this device, you can design a real-time computer reading sensor information and the best part is this board is compatible with all other Arduino boards. With this board, you can make all pins PWM signals (on the FPGA block side) for handling the speed of motors. Moreover, you can develop a sound effect pedal for your guitar by capturing the sound in real-time.
With Arduino IoT cloud, you can also handle the complex laboratory machine connected with a number of motors.
Before moving further, I suggest you read the
Introduction to Arduino MKR NB 1500 that I’ve uploaded previously.
I suggest you buckle up as I’ll walk you through the complete introduction to Arduino MKR Vidor 4000 covering datasheet, pinout, features, programming, and applications.
Let’s get started.
Introduction to Arduino MKR Vidor 4000
- The Arduino MKR Vidor 4000 is a powerful board with which you can develop your own controller board.
- This board is incorporated with SAMD21 microcontroller and Intel® Cyclone® 10CL016 (FPGA).
- The inclusion of the most powerful reprogrammable chip FPGA makes this device unique and separate from other Arduino boards available in the market.
- With this FPGA feature, you can do audio and video processing which is not possible for other Arduino boards.
- The FPGA carries 504Kbit of embedded RAM, 16K Logic Elements, and 56 18x18 bit HW multipliers that are employed for high-speed DSP (digital signal processing).
- Every pin is activated at over 150 MHz and normally configured for functions such as (Q)SPI, high res/ high freq PWM, UARTs, quadrature encoder, Sigma Delta DAC, I2C, I2S, etc.
- Using this Vidor device you can do an experiment with precision as it comes with the RESET button which you can use in case anything goes wrong. As you press and release this button, the board gets reset, helping you program the board from scratch.
- The operating voltage of this board is 3.3V and one Mini PCI express port with programmable pins is also installed on the board that carries up to 25 user-programmable pins.
- The board also features a MIPI (mobile industry processor interface) camera connector which is nothing but a set of standards that allow implementing important features of smartphones including displays and imaging devices. In simple words, the MIPI standard is employed to offer connectivity in mobile, multimedia, automotive, augmented reality, and virtual reality, and other related applications.
- Other features include - Wifi & BLE powered by U-BLOX NINA W102 module, Micro HDMI connector, the MKR interface where all pins are controlled by both SAMD21 and FPGA.
- The flash memory of FPGA on this Vidor board is 2MB and SDRAM memory is 8MB. There is no EEPROM memory. The flash memory is used to store the Arduino program (sketch) and SDRAM memory is used to produce and manipulate variables when it runs.
- The flash memory on the microcontroller side is 256KB and the SRAM memory is 32KB. There is no EEPROM memory on the microcontroller side.
- The power to the board by USB is 5V. Moreover, the board also features a Li-Po charging circuit that runs the board in two ways: either from the external 5V source or from battery power.
Arduino MKR Vidor 4000 Pinout
The following figure shows the pinout diagram of Arduino MKR Vidor 4000.
Arduino MKR Vidor 4000 Pin Description
Hope you’ve got a brief idea about this Vidor board. In this section, we’ll cover the description of each pin installed on the microcontroller block side and FPGA block side. Let’s jump right in.
Digital Pins
There are total 22 headers + 25 Mini PCI Express pins installed on the FPGA block side. The PCI Mini Express is a port with programmable pins. There are total 8 Digital pins on the microcontroller block which remain in two states i.e. either HIGH or LOW. When these pins are HIGH they are considered ON and receive 5V and when these pins are LOW they are considered OFF and receive 0V.
Analog Pins
It is important to note that the analog pins on board are not routed through FPGA. These pins are attached to both - FPGA and SAMD. Moreover, using these pins on the SAMD side is totally fine, as long as you're not using these pins as outputs on the FPGA side. On the FPGA block, there is no analog pin applicable. While on the microcontroller block there are 7 analog pins.
PWM Pins
The PWM feature in this board is unique. You can use all pins on the FPGA as PWM pins to control the speed of motors. When these PWM pins are activated, the board produces an analog result with digital means. There are 13 PWM pins on the microcontroller block.
UART Pins
There are two UART pins installed on the microcontroller block side. The Rx is a pin used to receive serial data while Tx is a pin used to transfer serial data.
On the FPGA side, up to 7 UART are used depending on the FPGA configuration.
I2C Pins
Two pins SDA and SCL are used for I2C communication. The SDA is a serial data line that carries the data and SCL is a serial clock line used for the synchronization of all data transfer through the I2C bus. Again on the microcontroller block side, there is only one I2C protocol. While on the FPGA side up to 7 I2C protocols can be used.
SPI Pins
The Vidor board comes with one SPI (serial peripheral interface) communication protocol that is mainly used to develop the communication between the controller and other peripheral devices such as sensors or shift registers. There is only one SPI protocol on the microcontroller’s side while up to 7 SPI protocols are used on the FPGA side depending on the FPGA configuration.
Two pins… MISO (Master Input Slave Output) and MOSI (Master Output Slave Input) are employed for SPI communication. These pins are used to receive or send data by the controller.
Arduino MKR Vidor 4000 Features
Microcontroller = SAMD21 Cortex®-M0+ 32bit low power ARM MCU
FPGA = Intel® Cyclone® 10CL016
Camera Connector = MIPI camera connector
PCI = Mini PCI Express port with programmable pins
Digital I/O Pins on FPGA = 22 headers + 25 Mini PCI Express
Digital I/O Pins on MCU side = 8
PWM pins on FPGA = all pins
PWM pins on MCU side = 13 pins
Analog Pins on FGPA = n/a
Analog Pins on MCU side = 7
UART for FGPA = up to 7 depending on the FPGA configuration
SPI for FGPA = up to 7 depending on the FPGA configuration
I2C for FGPA = up to 7 depending on the FPGA configuration
UART for MCU = 1
SPI for MCU = 1
I2C for MCU = 1
Board power supply (USB, Vin) = 5V
Circuit operating voltage = 3.3 V
Flash Memory on FGPA = 2MB
SDRAM Memory on FGPA = 8MB
Flash memory on MCU = 256KB
SRAM memory on MCU = 32KB
Clock speed for FGPA = 48 MHz - up to 200 MHz
Clock speed for MCU = 32.768 kHz (RTC), 48 MHz
USB = Full-speed USB device and embedded host
Size = 25x83mm
Weight = 43.5 gm
Programming
The Vidor board is programmed using the Arduino IDE (integrated development environment) software. This software is used to program all Arduino boards.
This board carries a USB port through which you can connect this device with the computer and send a number of instructions to program the board.
This device contains Bootloader which is a built-in feature of this board, setting you free from buying the external burner to burn the program on the microcontroller.
Arduino MKR Vidor 4000 Applications
- Vidor is used to making LED sequencer
- Used for audio and video processing
- Employed for making sound effect for guitar
- You can also make Vidor clock
- MIPI used for implementing important features of smartphones
That’s all for today. I hope you find this article helpful. If you’re unsure or have any questions, you can pop your comment in the section below. I’d love to help you the best way I can. Feel free to share your valuable feedback and suggestions around the content we share so we keep generating quality content customized to your exact needs and requirements. Thank you for reading the article.
An Overview of The Thin Film Transistor And Its Use in Displays
Hi Guys! Hope you're well. I welcome you on board. In this post today, I’ll detail some basic information on the
Thin Film Transistor (TFT). Though TFTs can be used in contexts such as radiography (imaging techniques like X-rays and gamma rays) and electronic visual displays, we will focus on the most common role of TFTs in
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD). LCDs are used in screens like car dashboards and calculators, and with the use of TFTs, these displays provide the user with a better experience through affordable cost, minimized power usage, and faster response and refresh rates.
Let us dive into how TFTs can do this.
Physical Build
Like all transistors, the TFT is made using semiconductor materials that allow for the amplification, control, or generation of electrical signals. Common TFT semiconductor elements have atomic-level structures of repeated symmetric patterns called
crystal lattices. Some examples of usable crystalline materials include silicon (the most common material in TFTs) and metal oxides. Recent developments show that organic materials may also be used to create this semiconductor.
The semiconductor material makes up one layer of the transistor and is described to be a thin film, hence the name. Given its conductive properties, this layer can be
doped. This method of doping is known as the introduction of a very small amount of impurities (other elements) into the pure semiconductor materials. If two areas within one crystal structure are doped differently, this forms what is known as a
semiconductor junction that makes it possible for
charge carriers to move and behave a certain way and thus create a functional charge.
Charge carriers can be electrons, ions, or electron holes (the pull of atoms/atomic lattices that are missing electrons that, if present, would create a neutral charge).
[caption id="attachment_160995" align="aligncenter" width="416"]
Figure 2: A diagram of three possible ways an introduced impurity used in doping (called a dopant) can diffuse throughout the crystal lattice.[/caption]
Along with this semiconductor layer, there is another layer called the
dielectric layer. The dielectric layer is a polarizable insulator (being an insulator, it is also nonmetallic) that has a positive charge on one end and a negative on the other, and once strained into its polarized state, can potentially remain so for a while, even when the external electric field’s stress is removed. This polarization can produce an increased
capacitance (or stored charge capacity) of the respective
capacitor. In the case of LCDs, each capacitor is a single pixel of the display.
These two layers of the TFT combined with metallic contacts rest over a non-conductive substrate are typically made of glass when used in LCDs. Glass is used because it is non-conductive and also provides high-level display clarity.
The TFT can be classified as a special form of a
Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor or a
MOSFET. The general structure of MOSFETs like the TFT typically has three terminals called the
source,
drain, and
gate.
[caption id="attachment_160996" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
Figure 3: The general structure of TFT’s layers and parts.[/caption]
To moderate the current’s flow, MOSFETs, as well as all other
Field Effect Transistors (FET), must control the application of voltage to the gate. This is done through the flowing or blocking of electrons. Stemming from this comes a changed conductivity between the source and drain. With regards to the previously mentioned charge carriers, the source terminal is where these carriers enter the active channel of the transistor system, and the drain is where those carriers exit. The source and drain terminal conductors utilize
ohmic contacts, which are types of semiconductor junctions resulting from doping, to connect to the semiconductor layer of the transistor.
TFT Benefits: Affordable, Low Power Usage, Fast response and refresh rates
TFTs create an
active matrix display, meaning that each pixel of the display is individually attached to its transistor, which is fortunately very compact, and capacitor which together can actively preserve the pixel’s last known signal, even while other pixels may be changing. With this active maintenance of the pixel’s status, the TFT better stabilizes the displayed image than displays that use a
passive matrix, or a system in which a pixel must passively keep its last signaled state without any further signals until it is refreshed.
In effect, many benefits arise from this.
Crosstalk is when a signal meant for one area of the display or circuit undesirably affects another area, and so with LCDs, pixels may display different information than desired. However, with the use of an active matrix and the small-sized transistors, crosstalk is much less likely, increasing the accuracy of the display. In addition to this, the speed of response and refresh rates similarly increase, as active matrixes, in contrast to passive ones, can better show quick changes (rather than there being a faded and/or blurry display) since their electrical charges can keep up with the changing signals.
[caption id="attachment_160997" align="aligncenter" width="545"]
Figure 4: A passive matrix, which can only select voltage using its grid structure of row-column intersections, versus an active matrix, which can select by individual pixels.[/caption]
This transistor’s decreased cost and power usage go hand-in-hand. TFTs are known to operate with low voltage but in turn, release a high output current. Efficiency, thus, is increased, as this specific display system does not consume as much power as others do, making the cost of maintaining and/or using the display fair and reasonable.
In summary, the Thin Film Transistor can be considered as an on and off switch for individual pixels of a display. Though it is much more complicated than simply acting as a switch, the TFT has instilled itself in our everyday lives, from computer screens to navigation systems. While they may not be as well known as LED, they serve many purposes that LEDs may not be able to, such as pixel display versus LED-controlled screen light, and oftentimes, TFTs act in conjunction with LED displays (though TFTs are not given due credit, seen as manufacturers often label these displays as LED).
Thank you for reading this article, and I hope that it was informative and enjoyable. Please feel free to share any questions you may have through a reply down below. All the best to you!