Other topics

Question 1

What is a Microcontroller?

Answer 1

A self-contained computer on a single chip

Question 2

What are the characteristics of a Microcontroller?

Answer 2

• Slow clock: typically 32kHz to 100Mhz
• Small RAM, small storage , low power
• Very cheap

Question 3

What type of memory is on Microcontrollers?

Answer 3

• Registers
• SRAM
• Flash/EEPROM
• Typically no cache

Question 4

Why can’t Microcontrollers run a real-operating system?

Answer 4

Because they have no Memory Management Unit

Question 5

Why can’t Microcontrollers have virtual memory?

Answer 5

Because they have no Memory Management Unit as these need hardware support

Question 6

What type of Input/Output do microcontrollers have?

Answer 6

• General purpose I/O (interrupts and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM))
• Timers, clocks, counters
• Serial interfaces

Question 7

How much power does Microcontrollers use?

Answer 7

They go from Hundreds of µA to <10 mA active

Question 8

Where are Microcontrollers used?

Answer 8

• Smart devices
• Vending machines
• Computer peripherals
• Industrial, aero and space
• Embedded controllers in other devices

Question 9

What is the ARM Cortex-M?

Answer 9

A Microcontroller

Question 10

What are the characteristics of the ARM Cortex-M?

Answer 10

• 32-bit RISC core
• Contemporary Architecture
• Use Thumb-1 and Thumb-2 versions of the ARM instruction set

Question 11

What is Bare-Metal Programming?

Answer 11

• Write code in C
• Compile
• Flash to microcontroller

Question 12

Why is Bare-Metal Programming used on microcontrollers?

Answer 12

Efficiency and memory usage are much more of a concern

Question 13

What is the Arduino Platform?

Answer 13

• Open-source hardware and software
• A range of platforms where code can be moved from platform to platform

Question 14

What is Mbed?

Answer 14

• Cloud-based IDE and OS for ARM-based microcontrollers
• Code written in C
• Binary dropped onto mounted flash “drive” to program

Question 15

What are the differences between a Microprocessor and Microcontroller

Answer 15

Microprocessor
* CPU, RAM, storage, I/O, timer,
etc. are typically separate
* Amount of RAM, storage and
I/O can be set at design time
* Higher cost, but more versatile
and general-purpose
* High performance
* High power
* 64-bit is common
* Typically a deep pipeline

Microcontroller
* Everything integrated into a
single chip
* Fixed amount of on-chip RAM, storage and I/O
* Low cost for applications that
are space and/or power
constrained
* Low performance
* Low power
* 8, 16 and 32-bit are common
* Shorter pipeline

Question 16

What GPUs used for?

Answer 16

• Video Compression
• Video transcoding
• Image processing
• Modelling
• Autonomous vehicles
• Machine learning/ AI
• Number-crunching