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Embedded System Questions
1. What is an embedded system?
- A computersystem with a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electrical system
- “embedded” as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts.
- Typical properties include low power consumption, small size, rugged operating ranges, and low per-unit cost
- Embedded systems range from portable devices such as digital watchesand MP3 players, to large stationary installations like traffic lights, factory controllers, and largely complex systems like hybrid vehicles, MRI, and avionics.
2. What is a microcontroller?
- Micro controllers are “special purpose computers” that do one thing well.
- Designed for embedded applications
- Used in automatically controlled products and devices.
- They will generally have the ability to retain functionality while waiting for an event such as a button press or other interrupt
3.
| SPI | ADC | UART | I2C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a. What do they stand for? | Serial Peripheral Interface | Analog-to-Digital Converter | Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter | Inter-Integrated Circuit |
| b. What are they? | An SPI is a synchronous serial communication interface specification used for short distance communication, primarily in embedded systems. | A device that converts physical quantities into digital numbers to represent the physical quantity. | UART is a computer hardware device that translates data between parallel and serial forms. | I2C is a multi-master, multi-slave, single-ended, serial computer bus. |
| c. What are they useful for? | SPI can be used for Secure Digital Cards and Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD). | It can be used for music recording, digital signal processing, and scientific instruments. | UARTs are used for transmitting and receiving data. | I2C is typically used for attaching lower-speed integrated cirucits to processors and microcontrollers. |
d. How are they all related?
4. How do you think this information will relate to this lab?
We will definitely be using microcontrollers to control the rest of these items as part of an embedded system in our weatherbox.
Arduino Questions
1. What is Arduino?
2. What is an Arduino Uno?
3. What kind of programming language does the Arduino IDE support?
4. What are the two functions that are present in an Arduino program?
5. How is it different from a regular microcontroller?
6. Why do people use the Arduino?
a. What are some advantages?
b. What are some disadvantages?