Arduino Boards

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ARDUINO
Info Sheet: Description: Arduino Boards In this information sheet well provide you with a quick overview on the three of the most common Arduino microcontrollers currently on the market. To help you decide on the most suitable board for your intended project, weve provided you with a general description and a detailed specifications table for the Ardunio Uno, Mega and Nano. We also highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each board and how much they sell for. In order to get your hands on one of these versatile and inexpensive boards, weve provided you with several links to some recommended electronic suppliers. 1 Introduction Uno Mega Nano Link We suggest you have a rough idea for your intended project.

Difficulty (1-10): Overview:

Requirements:

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Arduino Boards

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ARDUINO BOARDS
Arduino is a microcontroller created in Ivrea, Italy in 2005 by Massimo Banzi & David Cuartielles. Microcontrollers are small computers on a single integrated circuit made up of three basic components: - A processor core - Memory - Input & output Arduino boards are open source hardware. That means the hardware design information is freely available for those of you who decide to build your own boards. As a beginner, we suggest getting started with one of the more common Arduino boards. The more common Arduino boards allow for more freedom and flexibility with an extensive selection of compatible shields available Boards can be purchased preassembled or as DIY kits from your local electronic shop or from a wide selection of online suppliers. (Links provided below)

Uno
Arduino UNO is the most famous board in the Arduino family after Arduino Duemilanove. It is the latest design of the basic USB board and one of the more stable Arduino platforms to date. The board contains everything that a mid sized 8-bit microcontroller project needs and is the standard kit for people looking to start out in Arduino, due to its compatibility and prevalence.

Specifications
Processor Operating Voltage / Input Voltage CPU Speed Analog In / Out Digital IO / PWM EEPROM SRAM Flash USB

ATmega328

5V / 7-12V

16

6/0

14 / 6

32

Reg

Advantages
It has an improved USB interface allowing the Arduino to interface with Windows and OSX without drivers. (Although Windows users still require an .inf file) The Uno can also be recognized as an input device, such as a keyboard or mouse, which opens up a variety of input/output possibilities for the platform. There are a lot of shields to expend its functionality. An open source design. The advantage of it being open source is that it has a large community of people using and troubleshooting it. This makes it easy to find someone to help you debug your projects.

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Arduino Boards

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Very convenient power management and built-in voltage regulation. You can connect an external power source of up to 12v and it will regulate it to both 5v and 3.3v. It also can be powered directly off of a USB port without any external power. A 16mhz clock. This makes it not the speediest microcontroller around, but fast enough for most applications.

Disadvantages
Limited processing power No data storage

Price
!22,99 @ Amazon

Mega
The Mega is the second most commonly encountered version of the Arduino family. The Arduino Mega is like the Arduino Unos big brother. Purchase the Mega when you have a clear need for the additional input-output pins and larger memory. Its ideal for those larger projects that control lots of LEDs, have a large number of inputs and outputs. However, all of the added functionality comes at the cost of a slightly larger circuit board. It may make your project more powerful, but it will also make your project larger.

Specifications
Processor Operating Voltage / Input Voltage CPU Speed Analog In / Out Digital IO / PWM EEPROM SRAM Flash USB

ATmega256

5V / 7-12V

16

16 / 0

54 / 15

256

Reg

Advantages
The Mega provides significantly increased input-output functionality Increased memory 4 Serial ports The Mega works with the majority of the shields available Support for I2C/TWI

Disadvantages
One of the difficulties of the mega board is that all the pins are different so most tutorials are aimed at the UNO board or the Duemilanove or Diecimila are useless because the Mega board pin-out is different. To know which pin-out is needed for the
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Arduino Boards

handson.dmt.fh-joanneum.at

Arduino Mega 2560 the arduino.cc website has a special webpage:( http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardMega2560).

Price
!46,95 @ Amazon

Nano
As its name, Arduino Nano is a compact and breadboardfriendly version board based on ATmega328 processor. It is more or less same functionality as the Arduino UNO but in different package. Instead of using the standard USB to connect to the computer, it uses the mini usb but without the power plug for external power source that built on Arduino UNO. The dimension of Arduino Nano is only 43mm x 18mm reducing the size of any robotics or motorized project.

Specifications
Processor Operating Voltage / Input Voltage CPU Speed Analog In / Out Digital IO / PWM EEPROM SRAM Flash USB

ATmega328

5V / 7-9V

16

8/0

14 / 6

32

Mini

Advantages
Compact and powerful. It contains the same microcontroller (ATmega328) but in SMD form. Has all the I/O pins (plus two extra analogue inputs). Perfect for breadboarding.

Disadvantages
Does not use standard Arduino shields.

Price
!14,99 @ Amazon

Useful Resources
Here are a few reliable sources for purchasing an Arduino suitable for your project. Conrad Electronics http://www.conrad.at/ce/de/brand/Arduino?queryFromSuggest=true Neuhold Electronik http://www.neuhold-elektronik.at/catshop/ Sparkfun https://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=arduino
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