The microcontroller has been critical in changing modern living. You certainly have a couple of these in your house and aren’t even aware of it!
The variety of potential microcontroller applications is extensive—low-cost wearable tech, medical instruments, high-end electronic goods, rugged industrial devices, and cutting-edge military and aerospace systems. These adaptable, affordable, user-friendly components are a welcome addition to almost any electronic product.
What Is A Microcontroller?
A microcontroller is a small integrated circuit (IC) that controls a single operation in an embedded system. On a single chip, a typical microcontroller contains a CPU, memory, and input/output (I/O) peripherals.
Microcontrollers, also known as embedded controllers or microcontroller units (MCU), are found in various equipment such as cars, robotics, office machinery, medical equipment, mobile wireless transceivers, vending machines, and household appliances.
They are essentially humble little personal computers (PCs) meant to control minor aspects of a bigger component without needing a complicated front-end operating system (OS).
What’s Inside A Microcontroller?
Despite its small size, a microcontroller comprises multiple components, much like your standard desktop computer.
The Processor
A processor is the so-called brain of the operations. It analyzes and reacts to numerous instructions that control the microcontroller’s function. This entails doing basic arithmetic, logic, and I/O functions. It also executes data transfer functions, which allow orders to be communicated to other parts in the broader embedded system.
The Memory
The memory of a microcontroller is used to store information that the processor collects and uses to react to commands that it has been configured to execute. A microcontroller has two types of memory:
- Program Memory: This holds long-term data about the CPU’s commands. Program memory is non-volatile memory, which means it can store data indefinitely without a power supply.
- Data Memory: This is needed to store temporary data while performing tasks. This memory type is volatile, meaning the data it stores is only temporary and only kept if the device is powered on.
The I/O Peripherals
The input and output modules serve as the processor’s interface to the outside world. The input ports accept data and transfer it to the processor in binary format. The processor receives the data and provides the commands to output devices that perform tasks independent of the microcontroller.
The Ways You’re Using Microcontrollers Every Day
Microcontrollers have an impact on your life from the minute you awake. They are used in home security and alarm systems to protect you, your family, and your things. Sensors, a microprocessor, and an output system, usually an audible alert, are all part of a sophisticated home alarm system.
If you slept well, you could thank the microcontrollers set to assist your thermostat. Sensors monitor the house’s temperature, and microcontrollers regulate the furnace and air conditioner. This is way better than shoveling coal into a fireplace.
You may thank the inbuilt technology in your washing machine for your clean clothing in the morning. The soak, wash, rinse, and spin cycles are controlled by microcontrollers in the embedded systems of your washing machine.
You’ve gotten out the door, and it’s time to go to school and begin the day! Remember that your vehicle is packed with embedded devices using microprocessors that sense data about your car and analyze it to produce numerous outputs.
A sensor monitors your vehicle’s fuel levels, and a visual display shows how much gas you have left and how far you can travel. Low gas triggers the dashboard fuel light.
Embedded systems manage running lights, flashers, brake lights, and headlights. In some cases, you control the input directly – you manually turn on your headlights – but in others, sensors detect what you’re doing and respond automatically, like when you brake, and your brake lights turn on.
Accelerometers control airbags in cars by detecting collision acceleration changes. This information is fed to a microcontroller that deploys airbags in case of a collision.
Your car’s GPS is also embedded; it communicates with satellites or a downloaded map. It uses speed and location to provide directions.
Why Learning About Computer Science Should Excite You
Have you ever wished you could create an app for a smartphone? Or questioned how self-driving vehicles actually work? Computer science is the career for you if you’re eager to use your problem-solving abilities to develop technology that will improve modern society.
If you especially like how microcontrollers help improve civilization, you may want to look into Embedded Hardware Engineering. Through this course, you may become:
- A microcontroller firmware engineer creates devices such as label printers, medical equipment, vehicle control parts, and game controllers.
- An embedded Linux engineer is in charge of running and testing developed modules and units as well as developing low-layer tasks with stringent embedded constraints.
- An embedded applications engineer manages embedded software frameworks, creates open-source software and stacks, and works with Python and embedded C as their primary programming languages.
- An embedded network engineer maintains various network equipment, including switches, routers, access points, firewalls, bridges, and network back-end infrastructure.
- On the other hand, cybersecurity embedded developers use their technical knowledge to guarantee the security of embedded software.
- An embedded IoT app developer uses version control, test-driven development, and mobbing while validating product compliances and creating embedded software in C and C++.
