MICROCONTROLLERS & ITS APPLICATIONS

SEMINAR – II

ARDUINO – DEFINITION, VARIANTS & FEATURES

Arduino Features and Capabilities

Table 4-1 is a comparison of the most common Arduino

board types. If you compare this table with the tables
in Chapter 1 it is obvious that the basic capabilities of
an Arduino board are the capabilities supplied by its
microcontroller. However, because the Arduino designs
allocate certain pins on the AVR processors to specific
functions, or don’t bring out all of the processor’s pins,
not all of the capabilities of the microcontrollers are
available at the terminals of an Arduino.

VCC Clock AIN DIO PWM

Board name Processor USB
(V) (MHz) pins pins pins

ArduinoBT ATmega328 5 16 6 14 6 None

Duemilanove ATmega168 5 16 6 14 6 Regular

Duemilanove ATmega328 5 16 6 14 6 Regular

Diecimila ATmega168 5 16 6 14 6 Regular

Esplora ATmega32U4 5 16 - - - Micro

Ethernet ATmega328 5 16 6 14 4 Regular

 VCC Clock AIN DIO PWM
Board name Processor USB
(V) (MHz) pins pins pins

Fio ATmega328P 3.3 8 8 14 6 Mini

Leonardo ATmega32U4 5 16 12 20 7 Micro

LilyPad ATmega168V 2.7–5.5 8 6 14 6 None

LilyPad ATmega328V 2.7–5.5 8 6 14 6 None

Mega ATmega1280 5 16 16 54 15 Regular

Mega ADK ATmega2560 5 16 16 54 15 Regular

Mega 2560 ATmega2560 5 16 16 54 15 Regular

Micro ATmega32U4 5 16 12 20 7 Micro

Mini ATmega328 5 16 8 14 6 None

Mini Pro ATmega168 3.3 8 6 14 6 None

Mini Pro ATmega168 5 16 6 14 6 None

Nano ATmega168 5 16 8 14 6 Mini-B

Nano ATmega328 5 16 8 14 6 Mini-B

Pro (168) ATmega168 3.3 8 6 14 6 None

Pro (328) ATmega328 5 16 6 14 6 None

Uno ATmega328 5 16 6 14 6 Regular

Yún ATmega32U4 5 16 12 20 7 Host (A)

 VCC Clock AIN DIO PWM
Board name Processor USB
(V) (MHz) pins pins pins

a Analog inputs.
b Digital I/O.
c Pulse-width modulation outputs (alternate DIO pin functions).

Table 4-1. Arduino hardware features

Arduino USB Interfaces

Starting with the Leonardo board (2012), the

ATmega32U4 XMEGA microcontroller has been used as
the primary processor. This part has a built-in USB
interface, which eliminates the need for the additional
chip seen on earlier Arduino models with a USB
interface. The Leonardo (2012), Esplora (2012), Micro
(2012), and Yún (2013) all use the ATmega32U4
processor.

The older Arduino models with USB used an FTDI

interface chip (the FT232RL), an ATmega8 (Uno), or an
ATmega16U2 (Mega2560 and Uno R3). The FT232RL
converts between standard serial (such as RS-232) and
USB. In the Uno, Uno R3, and Mega2560 the additional
small ATmega processors are preprogrammed to serve
as a USB interface. The operation of these parts is
transparent when using the Arduino IDE to create and
load program sketches.

Those boards that do not have a USB interface must be

programmed using an external adapter.
Arduino types that use the FTDI FT232RL serial-to-USB
interface chip are essentially identical internally, and
consist of a DC voltage regulation circuit and two
ICs. Figure 4-1 shows a block diagram of the Diecimila
and Duemilanove models with an FTDI interface chip.

Figure 4-1. FTDI USB interface

Since around 2010, the Uno R2 and Uno SMD boards

have employed the ATmega16U2 part instead of the
FTDI FT232RL for the USB interface. The Uno R3 also
has the ATmega16U2 serving as the USB interface. The
ATmega16U2 incorporates a built-in USB 2.0 interface
and is basically the same as the ATmega32U4, just with
less memory. Figure 4-2 shows a block diagram of the
Uno R2 with an ATmega16U2 providing the USB
interface. The Uno, with an ATmega8, has the same
internal functional arrangement as the Uno R2, just
with a different MCU serving as the USB interface.

Arduino Physical Dimensions

Arduino boards come in a variety of shapes and

sizes, but generally they can be organized into four
groups: full-size or baseline boards, mega-size boards,
small form-factor boards, and special-purpose boards.

Figure 4-2. ATmega16U2 USB interface

clockwise order from the lower left are a Duemilanove,

a Leonardo, a clone Mega2560 with an extended I/O
pin layout from SainSmart, and an official Arduino
Mega2560, with an Arduino Nano sitting in the center.

Figure 4-3. Comparison of Arduino and clone boards