Earn Maker Points on Every Order! Learn More!

Arduino/Genuino Uno

Back to Blog
Arduino/Genuino Uno - Arduino/Genuino Uno - Arduino/Genuino Uno - Arduino/Genuino Uno

Arduino/Genuino Uno

The UNO is the best board to get started with electronics and coding. If this is your first experience tinkering with the platform, the UNO is the most robust board you can start playing with. The UNO is the most used and documented board of the whole Arduino family. Here the anatomy of Arduino/Genuino Uno.

Arduino Uno Anatomy

  1. Digital pins:Use these pins with digitalRead(), digitalWrite(), and analogWrite(). analogWrite() works only on the pins with the PWM symbol.
  2. Pin 13 LED: The only actuator built-in to your board. Besides being a handy target for your first blink sketch, this LED is very useful for debugging.
  3. Power LEDIndicates that your Genuino is receiving power. Useful for debugging.
  4. ATmega328Microcontroller: The heart of your board.
  5. Analog inputs: Use these pins with analogRead().
  6. Power Supply: GND and 5V pins: Use these pins to provide +5V power and ground to your circuits.
  7. DC Jack: This is how you power your Genuino when it’s not plugged into a USB port for power. Can accept voltages between 7-12V.
  8. TX and RX LEDs: These LEDs indicate communication between your Genuino and your computer. Expect them to flicker rapidly during sketch upload as well as during serial communication. Useful for debugging.
  9. USB port: Used for powering your Genuino Uno, uploading your sketches to your Genuino, and for communicating with your Genuino sketch (via Serial. println() etc.).
  10. Reset button: Resets the ATmega

 

Technical Specifications:

2.Arduino Uno Anatomy

Buy Arduino UNO

OSH: Schematics

Arduino Uno is open-source hardware! You can build your own board using the following files:

Eagle Files: https://www.arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/arduino_Uno_Rev3-02-TH.zip

Schematics: https://www.arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/Arduino_Uno_Rev3-schematic.pdf

Board Size: http://arduino.cc/documents/ArduinoUno.dxf

Power

The Arduino Uno board can be powered via the USB connection or with an external power supply. The power source is selected automatically.

External (non-USB) power can come either from an AC-to-DC adapter (wall-wart) or battery. The adapter can be connected by plugging a 2.1mm center-positive plug into the board’s power jack. Leads from a battery can be inserted in the GND and Vin pin headers of the POWER connector.

The board can operate on an external supply from 6 to 20 volts. If supplied with less than 7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less than five volts and the board may become unstable. If using more than 12V, the voltage regulator may overheat and damage the board. The recommended range is 7 to 12 volts.

The power pins are as follows:

  • Vin: The input voltage to the Arduino/Genuino board when it’s using an external power source (as opposed to 5 volts from the USB connection or other regulated power source). You can supply voltage through this pin, or, if supplying voltage via the power jack, access it through this pin.
  • 5V: This pin outputs a regulated 5V from the regulator on the board. The board can be supplied with power either from the DC power jack (7 – 12V), the USB connector (5V), or the VIN pin of the board (7-12V). Supplying voltage via the 5V or 3.3V pins bypasses the regulator, and can damage your board. We don’t advise it.
  • 3V3: A 3.3 volt supply generated by the on-board regulator. Maximum current draw is 50 mA.
  • GND: Ground pins.
  • IOREF: This pin on the Arduino/Genuino board provides the voltage reference with which the microcontroller operates. A properly configured shield can read the IOREF pin voltage and select the appropriate power source or enable voltage translators on the outputs to work with the 5V or 3.3V.

Input and Output

Each of the 14 digital pins on the Uno can be used as an input or output, using pinMode(),digitalWrite(), and digitalRead() functions. They operate at 5 volts. Each pin can provide or receive 20 mA as recommended operating condition and has an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected by default) of 20-50k ohm. A maximum of 40mA is the value that must not be exceeded on any I/O pin to avoid permanent damage to the microcontroller.

In addition, some pins have specialized functions:

  • Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX): Used to receive (RX) and transmit (TX) TTL serial data. These pins are connected to the corresponding pins of the ATmega8U2 USB-to-TTL Serial chip.
  • External Interrupts 2 and 3: These pins can be configured to trigger an interrupt on a low value, a rising or falling edge, or a change in value. See the attachInterrupt() function for details.
  • PWM: 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11: Provide 8-bit PWM output with the analogWrite() function.
  • SPI: 10 (SS), 11 (MOSI), 12 (MISO), 13 (SCK): These pins support SPI communication using the SPI library.
  • LED: 13: There is a built-in LED driven by digital pin 13. When the pin is HIGH value, the LED is on, when the pin is LOW, it’s off.
  • I2C (TWI): A4 or SDA pin and A5 or SCL pin: Support TWI communication using the Wire library.

The Uno has 6 analog inputs, labeled A0 through A5, each of which provides 10 bits of resolution (i.e. 1024 different values). By default, they measure from ground to 5 volts, though is it possible to change the upper end of their range using the AREF pin and the analogReference() function. There are a couple of other pins on the board:

  • AREF: A reference voltage for the analog inputs. Used with analogReference().
  • Reset: Bring this line LOW to reset the microcontroller. Typically used to add a reset button to shields which block the one on the board.

CommunicationArduino/Genuino Uno has a number of facilities for communicating with a computer, another Arduino/Genuino board, or other microcontrollers. The ATmega328 provides UART TTL (5V) serial communication, which is available on digital pins 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). An ATmega16U2 on the board channels this serial communication over USB and appears as a virtual com port to software on the computer. The Arduino Software (IDE) includes a serial monitor which allows simple textual data to be sent to and from the board. The RX and TX LEDs on the board will flash when data is being transmitted via the USB-to-serial chip and USB connection to the computer (but not for serial communication on pins 0 and 1).

SoftwareSerial library allows serial communication on any of the Uno’s digital pins.

The ATmega328 also supports I2C (TWI) and SPI communication. The Arduino Software (IDE) includes a Wire library to simplify the use of the I2C bus. For SPI communication, use the SPI library.

Programming

The Arduino Uno can be programmed with the (Arduino Software (IDE)). Select “Arduino/Genuino Uno from the Tools > Board menu (according to the microcontroller on your board).

The ATmega328 on the Arduino Uno comes preprogrammed with a bootloader that allows you to upload new code to it without the use of an external hardware programmer.

Warnings

The Arduino Uno has a resettable polyfuse that protects your computer’s USB ports from shorts and overcurrent. Although most computers provide their own internal protection, the fuse provides an extra layer of protection. If more than 500 mA is applied to the USB port, the fuse will automatically break the connection until the short or overload is removed.

Differences with other boards

The Uno differs from all preceding boards in that it does not use the FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip. Instead, it features the Atmega16U2 (Atmega8U2 up to version R2) programmed as a USB-to-serial converter.

Revisions

Revision 3 of the board has the following new features:

  • 1.0 pinout: added SDA and SCL pins that are near to the AREF pin and two other new pins placed near to the RESET pin, the IOREF that allow the shields to adapt to the voltage provided from the board. In future, shields will be compatible with both the board that uses the AVR, which operates with 5V and with the Arduino Due that operates with 3.3V. The second one is a not connected pin, that is reserved for future purposes.
  • Stronger RESET circuit.
  • Atmega 16U2 replace the 8U2.

 

Share this post

Leave a Reply

Back to Blog