Single-board microcontroller: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:55, 18 November 2018

Revision as of 05:37, 14 March 2019

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{{Refimprove|date=June 2011}}

[[Image:Mck glamor 320.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Make Controller Kit]] with an Atmel AT91SAM7X256 ([[ARM architecture|ARM]]) microcontroller.]]

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]], [[input/output|I/O circuits]], a [[clock generator]], [[RAM]], stored program memory and any necessary support [[integrated circuit|IC]]s. As such, they are a kind of [[System on a chip|System on a Chip]] (SoC). 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.

As they are usually low-cost, and have an especially low capital cost for development, single-board microcontrollers have long been popular in education. They are also a popular means for developers to gain hands-on experience with a new [[processor family]].