Arduino Uno

The Arduino Uno is an open-source microcontroller board based on

the Microchip ATmega328P microcontroller and developed by Arduino.cc.[2][3] The board is
equipped with sets of digital and analog input/output (I/O) pins that may be interfaced to
various expansion boards (shields) and other circuits.[1] The board has 14 Digital pins, 6
Analog pins, and programmable with the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development
Environment) via a type B USB cable.[4] It can be powered by the USB cable or by an
external 9-volt battery, though it accepts voltages between 7 and 20 volts. It is also
similar to the Arduino Nano and Leonardo.[5][6] The hardware reference design is
distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 license and is
available on the Arduino website. Layout and production files for some versions of the
hardware are also available.
The word "uno" means "one" in Italian and was chosen to mark the initial release of
the Arduino Software.[1] The Uno board is the first in a series of USB-based Arduino
boards,[3] and it and version 1.0 of the Arduino IDE were the reference versions of
Arduino, now evolved to newer releases.[4] The ATmega328 on the board comes
preprogrammed with a bootloader that allows uploading new code to it without the use of
an external hardware programmer.[3]
While the Uno communicates using the original STK500 protocol,[1] it differs from all
preceding boards in that it does not use the FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip. Instead, it
uses the Atmega16U2 (Atmega8U2 up to version R2) programmed as a USB-to-serial
converter.[7]
Technical specifications[edit]

 Microcontroller: Microchip ATmega328P [7]
 Operating Voltage: 5 Volts
 Input Voltage: 7 to 20 Volts
 Digital I/O Pins: 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)
 Analog Input Pins: 6
 DC Current per I/O Pin: 20 mA
 DC Current for 3.3V Pin: 50 mA
 Flash Memory: 32 KB of which 0.5 KB used by bootloader
 SRAM: 2 KB
 EEPROM: 1 KB
 Clock Speed: 16 MHz
 Length: 68.6 mm
 Width: 53.4 mm
 Weight: 25 g
Switched-mode power supply
A switched-mode power supply ( SMPS, or switcher) is an electronic power
supply that incorporates a switching regulator to convert electrical power efficiently. Like
other power supplies, an SMPS transfers power from a DC or AC source (often mains
power) to DC loads, such as a personal computer, while
converting voltage and current characteristics. Unlike a linear power supply, the pass
transistor of a switching-mode supply continually switches between low-dissipation, full-
on and full-off states, and spends very little time in the high dissipation transitions, which
minimizes wasted energy. A hypothetical ideal switched-mode power supply dissipates
no power. Voltage regulation is achieved by varying the ratio of on-to-off time (also
known as duty cycles). In contrast, a linear power supply regulates the output voltage by
continually dissipating power in the pass transistor. This higher power conversion
efficiency is an important advantage of a switched-mode power supply. Switched-mode
power supplies may also be substantially smaller and lighter than a linear supply due to
the smaller transformer size and weight.
Switching regulators are used as replacements for linear regulators when higher
efficiency, smaller size or lighter weight are required. They are, however, more
complicated; their switching currents can cause electrical noise problems if not carefully
suppressed, and simple designs may have a poor power factor.
Stepper motors
A stepper motor, also known as step motor or stepping motor, is a brushless DC
electric motor that divides a full rotation into a number of equal steps. The motor's
position can then be commanded to move and hold at one of these steps without
any position sensor for feedback (an open-loop controller), as long as the motor is
carefully sized to the application in respect to torque and speed.
Switched reluctance motors are very large stepping motors with a reduced pole count,
and generally are closed-loop commutated.

Nema 17 stepper motor:

:Nema 23 stepper motor

:Stepper motor driver
 stepper motor, also known as step motor or stepping motor, is a brushless DC
electric motor that divides a full rotation into a number of equal steps. The motor's
position can then be commanded to move and hold at one of these steps without
any position sensor for feedback (an open-loop controller), as long as the motor is
carefully sized to the application in respect to torque and speed.
Switched reluctance motors are very large stepping motors with a reduced pole count,
and generally are closed-loop commutated.