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Sunday, February 26, 2012

What is a micro controller?

What is a micro controller?-Pankaj,India 


Let us understand what a micro controller is."Mechatronically" speaking,the heart of a micro controller is its processor,which is quite small in size.The processor is responsible for executing operations programmed into it(actually its memory) using machine language which is basically 0101010, and all that binary jargon.In the simplest way,a processor has quite a lot of transistors on it which are largely responsible for providing output from input provided.The input may be in terms of 1s and 0s  as voltage provided.The transistors are arranged in it in special configurations forming logic gates confirming logic algebra.The output is highly predictable.Thus,many logic gates like AND,OR,etc, can be combined in the form of adders,etc.Modern processors,although small in size,can perform operations(additions, subtraction,and all of the complex math) on quite large numbers.Basically the processor has a memory location and transistors and buses(data carriers.Now,after taking in input,the processor outputs the information from raw data using instructions written in pure machine code(101010101).In case of microprocessor based controllers,i.e. micro controllers,they have a microprocessor along with RAM,instruction sets (written in High Level Languages like C++ which it later compiles),etc.and act as a small computer. Micro controllers are most frequently used in controlling servo motors and many other things where they can route through electrical power,have delay times,etc.