MicroController Flash Cards

DC Motor

A DC motor is any of a class of rotary electrical machines that converts direct current electrical energy into mechanical energy. The most common types rely on the forces produced by magnetic fields.

Ceramic Capacitor

A ceramic capacitor is a fixed-value capacitor in which ceramic material acts as the dielectric. It is constructed of two or more alternating layers of ceramic and a metal layer acting as the electrodes. The composition of the ceramic material defines the electrical behavior and therefore applications. Ceramic capacitors are divided into two application classes:

Diode

A diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts current primarily in one direction (asymmetric conductance); it has low (ideally zero) resistance in one direction, and high (ideally infinite) resistance in the other.

Knife Switch

A knife switch is a type of switch used to control the flow of electricity in a circuit.

LED

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a p-n junction diode that emits light when activated.

Photo Resistor

A photoresistor (or light-dependent resistor, LDR, or photo-conductive cell) is a light-controlled variable resistor. The resistance of a photoresistor decreases with increasing incident light intensity; in other words, it exhibits photoconductivity.

RISC

A reduced instruction set computer, or RISC, is one whose instruction set architecture (ISA) has a set of attributes that allows it to have a lower cycles per instruction (CPI) than a complex instruction set computer (CISC).

Relay

A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to mechanically operate a switch, but other operating principles are also used, such as solid-state relays.

Resistor

A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines, among other uses.

Microcontroller Board

A single-board microcontroller is a microcontroller built onto a single printed circuit board. This board provides all of the circuitry necessary for a useful control task: a microprocessor, I/O circuits, a clock generator, RAM, stored program memory and any necessary support ICs. The intention is that the board is immediately useful to an application developer, without requiring them to spend time and effort to develop controller hardware.

Voltage Regulator

A voltage regulator is an electronic circuit that provides a stable dc voltage independent of the load current, temperature and ac line voltage variations.

H-bridge

An H bridge is an electronic circuit that enables a voltage to be applied across a load in opposite direction.

Electrolytic Capacitor

An electrolytic capacitor (e-cap) is a polarized capacitor whose anode or positive plate is made of a metal that forms an insulating oxide layer through anodization.

IR Sensor

An infrared sensor is an electronic device, that emits in order to sense some aspects of the surroundings. An IR sensor can measure the heat of an object as well as detects the motion.These types of sensors measures only infrared radiation, rather than emitting it that is called as a passive IR sensor.

Temperature Sensor

Contact sensors include thermocouples and thermistors that touch the object they are to measure, and noncontact sensors measure the thermal radiation a heat source releases to determine its temperature.

Logic ICs

Here, the basic inverter circuit is used with a triple-emitter input transistor, to make a three-input NAND gate in which the output goes low (to logic-0) only when all three inputs are high (in the logic-1 state). Multiple-emitter transistors are widely used within TTL ICs.

Light Dependent Resistor

Light dependent resistors, LDRs or photoresistors are often used in circuits where it is necessary to detect the presence or the level of light. They can be described by a variety of names from light dependent resistor, LDR, photoresistor, or even photo cell, photocell or photoconductor.

NPN Transistor

NPN is one of the two types of bipolar transistors, consisting of a layer of P-doped semiconductor (the "base") between two N-doped layers. A small current entering the base is amplified to produce a large collector and emitter current.

AVR

One is the Relay Type and the other is the Servo Motor type. A Relay type AVR makes use of electronic circuitry like relays and semi-conductors to regulate the voltage. Servo Motor type AVR on the other hand, uses a magnetic core with a motorized servo mechanism to regulate the voltage.

PIC Microcontrollers

PIC (usually pronounced as "pick") is a family of microcontrollers made by Microchip Technology, derived from the PIC1650 originally developed by General Instrument's Microelectronics Division. The name PIC initially referred to Peripheral Interface Controller.

Piezo Element

Piezo elements come in handy when you need to detect vibration or a knock.

Variable Resistor

Simply put, a variable resistor is able to have its electrical resistance adjusted. These devices are used when working with electrical circuitry because they help to control voltage and/or currents. They specifically work with voltage and currents that are a part of the circuit.

Multimeter

an instrument designed to measure electric current, voltage, and usually resistance, typically over several ranges of value.

Transistor

semiconductor device with three connections, capable of amplification in addition to rectification.

555 Timer IC

The 555 timer IC is an integrated circuit (chip) used in a variety of timer, pulse generation, and oscillator applications.

ATMega328 Microcontroller

The Atmel 8-bit AVR RISC-based microcontroller combines 32 kB ISP flash memory with read-while-write capabilities, 1 kB EEPROM, 2 kB SRAM, 23 general purpose I/O lines, 32 general purpose working registers, three flexible timer/counters with compare modes, internal and external interrupts, serial programmable USART, a byte-oriented 2-wire serial interface, SPI serial port, 6-channel 10-bit A/D converter (8-channels in TQFP and QFN/MLF packages), programmable watchdog timer with internal oscillator, and five software selectable power saving modes. The device operates between 1.8-5.5 volts. The device achieves throughput approaching 1 MIPS per MHz.

Ultra Sonic Sensor

The Ultrasonic Sensor sends out a high-frequency sound pulse and then times how long it takes for the echo of the sound to reflect back. The sensor has 2 openings on its front. One opening transmits ultrasonic waves, (like a tiny speaker), the other receives them, (like a tiny microphone).

PNP Transistors

The circuit above is called a low-side switch, because the switch - our transistor - is on the low (ground) side of the circuit. Alternatively, we can use a PNP transistor to create a high-side switch: Similar to the NPN circuit, the base is our input, and the emitter is tied to a constant voltage.

USB Port

USB was designed to standardize the connection of computer peripherals (including keyboards, pointing devices, digital cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters) to personal computers, both to communicate and to supply electric power. It has largely replaced a variety of earlier interfaces, such as serial ports and parallel ports, as well as separate power chargers for portable devices - and has become commonplace on a wide range of devices

Servo

a powered mechanism producing motion or forces at a higher level of energy than the input level, e.g., in the brakes and steering of large motor vehicles, especially where feedback is employed to make the control automatic.

Switches A. SPST B. SPDT C. DPST D. DPDT

a program variable that activates or deactivates a certain function of a program.

Integrated Circuit

an electronic circuit formed on a small piece of semiconducting material, performing the same function as a larger circuit made from discrete components.