He delves into some of the most common options, such as adding a shift register, a multiplexer, or an I/O expander, along with a few less conventional approaches. You could have as much I/O as your heart desires yet some approaches come with cost, size and development time tradeoffs.
It seems like microcontroller memory just gets bigger and bigger, and often, it doesn't make a significant dent in program space. When I mention this to the players in the firmware game that have been doing this for a while, they are quick to say how lucky we 'youngins' are to have limitless memory so that even the most inefficient code can get the job done right.
And they are correct! I seldom need to optimize my code for limited program space. For speed, yes, I do sometimes need to be sensitive to certain places in my program, but not for the entire program space. Instead, I can focus on abstracting my program such that it has multiple layers of files that nearly anyone can read without a hassle.
Even when I'm developing small microcontroller projects, I typically use only a small part of the memory, while still maintaining the price point the product is supposed to hit.
But for the amount of I/O, this is a completely different story.
In fact, I often find myself needing more digital and even analog inputs and outputs. Sure, I could just upsize and get a bigger microcontroller, but this is rarely the solution, because the microcontroller seems to be locked down.
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Denne historien er fra August 2024-utgaven av Circuit Cellar.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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New TI MCUs Enable Edge AI and Industry-Leading Real-Time Control to Advance Efficiency, Safety, and Sustainability
Texas Instruments (TI) introduced two new series of real-time microcontrollers that deliver advancements to help engineers achieve more intelligent and secure processing in automotive and industrial applications.
Using Amazon Alexa to Control Custom IoT Gadgets
In part two of his article, Brian describes integrating custom IoT gadgets with Amazon Echo using emulation to receive spoken alarms. In part one, he used emulation and Arduino Cloud services as a middleman.
Holiday Hangover Hardware Hacking
Having too much cheer during the holidays? In this month's article, Colin offers a diversion from the jolly season by urging developers to retreat to the basement to brush up on hardware hacking skills. He shows how a low-cost Raspberry Pi Pico and a TP-Link Tapo C200 smart IP camera could become the next automated bird deterrent or a home automation server.
Datasheet: Microamps Per Megahertz Ultra-Low Power MCUs Minimize Current Consumption
How do chip makers differentiate if many ultra-low power MCUs on the market feature the same processor core? The peripherals and different power states offer various ways to manage current consumption down to microamps per megahertz.
Smart Home Lock Down Matter Provides Security Blanket
As more devices in the smart home connect to the Internet, they become increasingly vulnerable to outside attacks. Developers can now add the latest security measures to their Smart Home devices through Matter.
Basic Pulse Circuits
In part one of a three-part series, Wolfgang wrote how basic pulse circuits help digital circuits, such as embedded boards with ARM processors, deal with pulse trains or bursts of pulses from the outside. In Part 2, he dives into enabling flip-flops, timing parameters, and synchronization, design tasks needed to capture, detect, and filter pulses.
Building a Wi-Fi Router Watchdog
Dev created a watchdog for a Wi-Fi extender using a Raspberry Pi Pico. This monitors Wi-Fi connectivity for his smart home lighting system, which would require a reset twice a year due to rapid power interruptions.
Create Your Own PCBs with a CNC Milling Machine
Using KiCad, CopperCAM, and Candle Software
Performance Bottlenecks in Embedded Linux Solutions Analysis, Identification, and Mitigation
Good performance is a requirement for every technology, and system designers rely on operating systems to ensure fast and smooth transitions in critical applications. Fortunately, Pedro writes, the embedded Linux OS offers ways for finding, analyzing and mitigating performance bottlenecks so embedded systems can deliver the speed and efficiency that end users expect.
Renesas New RA8 Entry-Line MCU Groups Brings High Performance of Arm Cortex-M85 Processor to Cost-Sensitive Applications with Market-Leading CoreMark Performance
Renesas Electronics Corp., a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, introduced the RA8E1 and RA8E2 microcontroller (MCU) groups, extending the industry's most powerful series of MCUs.
