What is Arduino and what are its essential features?
Arduino consists of hardware boards that include a microcontroller and an integrated development environment (IDE) that allows users to program and control the behavior of electronic devices. It is widely used by hobbyists, students, artists, designers and professionals in the field of electronics and computing.
Some key features are:
- Arduino boards: There are several, each with a unique set of features and specifications. The most common include Arduino Uno, Arduino Nano, Arduino Mega and Arduino Micro, among others.
- Microcontroller: Each board incorporates a microcontroller that executes the program loaded on the board. The microcontroller processes instructions and controls interaction with connected components.
- IDE (Integrated Development Environment): Arduino provides a development environment that includes a code editor, a compiler, and program loading tools. The IDE simplifies programming and loading code onto the board.
- Programming language: Arduino uses a programming language based on simplified C/C++. Users can write programs that control the board's input and output pins, allowing interaction with sensors, actuators, and other components.
- Libraries: Arduino offers a variety of libraries that simplify programming for common tasks. These libraries provide predefined functions to facilitate communication with external devices, such as displays, sensors and communication modules.
- Connectivity: Arduino boards can connect to other devices using interfaces such as USB, UART, I2C and SPI. This facilitates communication with computers, other microcontrollers and peripherals.
- Custom projects: Used for a wide variety of projects, from simple educational experiments to complex embedded systems. It can be used to control lights, motors, sensors, home automation systems, among many others.
Its open source nature fosters the developer community, which has led to the creation of numerous resources, tutorials and shared projects around the world. Typically, the hardware consists of an Atmel AVR microcontroller, connected under the "minimal system" configuration on a printed circuit board. Expansion cards known as shields (also shields and hat) thanks to the arrangement of the input and output ports on the board. The shields complement the functionality of the board model used, adding external circuits, sensors and communication modules to the original board.
Types of shields for Arduino
There are a wide variety of shields available, each designed to provide specific functionality or expand the capabilities of the boards. Below we show you the most common types:
Communication Shield
- Ethernet Shield: Adds Ethernet connectivity to the Arduino board, allowing communication over wired networks
- Wi-Fi Shield: Provides Wi-Fi connectivity to the Arduino board, allowing wireless communication
Storage and memory shield
- SD Card Shield: Allows the use of SD memory cards for data storage
- EEPROM Shield: Adds additional EEPROM memory to the Arduino board
Screen and display shield
- LCD Shield: Incorporates an LCD screen for displaying information
- TFT Touch Screen Shield: Provides a color touch screen
Motor control shield
- Motor Shield: Facilitates the control of motors, whether direct current (DC) motors or stepper motors
Shield of sensors and inputs/outputs
- Sensor Shield: Provides connectors and circuitry to facilitate the connection of sensors and other input/output devices
- Relay Shield: Allows control of relays to handle higher current loads
Audio Shield
- Audio Shield: Provides audio input and output capabilities for sound-related projects.
GPS Shield
- GPS Shield: Add a GPS receiver for projects that require location tracking
Radio Frequency (RF) Shield
- RFID/NFC Shield: Allows communication with radio frequency identification (RFID) or near field communication (NFC) devices.
Bluetooth Shield
- Bluetooth Shield: Adds Bluetooth connectivity to the Arduino board.
Prototyping Shield
- Proto Shield: Provides a prototyping area for connecting additional components and custom circuits.
Measuring Shield
- Oscilloscope Shield: Transforms the Arduino board into a basic oscilloscope to measure electrical signals.
Power Shield
- Power Shield: Facilitates powering the Arduino board and other components using batteries.
These are just a few examples, and there are many other shields designed to meet specific project requirements. The availability of shields makes it easy for Arduino users to add new functionality to their projects without having to design circuits from scratch.
At Electrónica Embajadores we have original Arduino boards as we are official distributors of the main brands in this sector: Arduino, Sparkfun Electronics, Adafruit, Seeed Studio, Pololu but we also have some compatible ones of proven quality.
Along with the Arduino boards and/or shield, there are other closely related complements, but they are not within this section because they are not only used in this area, but are commonly used in electronics. Some of these are Motor Drivers, Displays and Relay Modules, among others.