4. Embedded programming¶
This week I worked on programming a microcontroller, which was a new experience for me. I worked with two separate code languages, TinkerCAD circuits and the Arduino IDE, during my time here.
what is a microcontroller?¶
A microcontroller is a small integrated circuit that is used to manage a specific operation in an embedded system. It is designed to be small and inexpensive. An example of a microcontroller is one that contains a processor, memory, and input/output (I/O) peripherals all on a single piece of silicon.
Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense¶
we will use a microcontroller called Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense that has many new features that will allow us to use many sensors without using or connecting external sensors to it.
What is Arduino?¶
Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. Arduino boards are able to read inputs - light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a Twitter message - and turn it into an output - activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board. To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.
- this is the arduino that we will be using.
The Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense is a completely new board on a well-known form factor. It comes with a series of embedded sensors:
9 axis inertial sensor: what makes this board ideal for wearable devices humidity, and temperature sensor: to get highly accurate measurements of the environmental conditions barometric sensor: you could make a simple weather station microphone: to capture and analyse sound in real time gesture, proximity, light color and light intensity sensor : estimate the room’s luminosity, but also whether someone is moving close to the board
This image shows the sensors in the microcontroller.
And here are the Pins
