Arduino Mega is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega 2560, it is an open source microcontroller. It includes 54 digital input and out pins. Out of all 54 pins we have 16 analog input pins, 4 pins are of hardware port and 14 pins are used as PWM outputs. It has frequency of 16 MHz, an ICSP header a power jack from where the supply would be given to the board, a USB cable, as well as REST button. The board Arduino Mega 2560 mainly includes all possible components which are essential for supporting the microcontroller. The power supply would be given to the board by connecting it to a PC or laptop using USB cables, or can be connected via; battery or an AC-DC USB adapter.
In Arduino Mega 2560 programming can be done using an IDE (Integrated Development Environment is an Arduino software), and it supports C/C++ programming language scripted on JAVA. As the Arduino Mega board has more pins, usually it is not utilized for simple general projects, however we can discover more complex project with mega board like temperature sensing, 3D printers, IOT applications, etc.
Arduino Mega Specification
The specification of Arduino Mega 2560 are as follows
Ø Microcontroller : ATmega 2560
Ø Operating Voltage : 5 volts
Ø Input Voltage (recommended) : 7-12 volts
Ø Input Voltage (range) : 6 – 20 volts
Ø Digital Input pins : 54 pins (14 PWM output)
Ø Analog Input pins : 16 pins
Ø DC Current for each input / output pins : 40mA
Ø DC Current for 3.3V pin : 50Ma
Ø Flash Memory : 256kb, 8kb of flash memory is used by boot loader
Ø SRAM : 8kb
Ø EEPROM : 4kb
Ø Frequency : 16 MHz
Ø USB host chip : MAX3421E
Ø Length : 101.52 mm
Ø Width : 53.3 mm
Ø Weight : 36 gm.
Arduino Mega Pin Configuration
- PIN 3.3V &5V- These are the pins which are used to provide output regulated voltage approximately 5V. This regulated power supply gives power to the microcontroller as well as to all the other components used over Arduino Mega board. The maximum power can be drawn from this board is 50Ma.
- GND Pin-The Arduino Mega 2560 board has 5 ground pins from where we can use any pin as required in projects.
- RST Pin-The REST pin of this Mega board is used to rearrange the board.
- VIN Pin-VIN pin is the input voltage pin of the board, it has range of 7volts to 20 volts. The voltage provided using power jack can be accessed by this VIN pin. However, the output voltage through this pin to the board will be automatically set up to 5V.
- Serial Communication-TXDand RXDare the serial pins of board, they are used to transmitting & receiving the serial data. Where Tx indicates the transfer of data whereas the Rx indicates receiving of data. The serial pins of the mega board have four combinations. For serial 0 it includes Tx (1) & Rx (0) ;for serial 1 it includes Tx (18) & Rx (19) ;for serial 2 it includes Tx (16) & Rx (17);and in serial 3 it includes Tx (14) & Rx (15).
- External Interrupts- The external interrupts are formed by using 6-pins like interrupt 0(0), interrupt 1(3), interrupt 2(21), interrupt 3(20), interrupt 4(19), interrupt 5(18).
- LED –The Arduino Mega board has a LED that is connected to pin-13 which is named as digital pin 13. This LED can be operated on the basis of high value and low value of pin.
- AREF –The AREF (Analog Reference Voltage) pin works for reference voltage for analog inputs.
- Analog Pins – Arduino Mega board has 16 analog pins which are marked as A0— A15. Every analog pin can be used as digital pin according to the requirement of project.
- SPI Communication –The term SPI refers to Serial Peripheral Interface which is utilized to transmit the data to the controller and other components of the mega board. Four pins like MISO (50), MOSI (51), SCK (52), and SS (53) are used for the communication of SPI (serial peripheral interface).
ADVANTAGES
- It needs low power consumption.
- It is easy to use for beginners also.
- It has ease to exploring to the coding world..
- As it has 8-bit microcontroller still it is less complex to use.
One can develop his debugging own touch application.
APPLICATIONS
- It can be used in CNC router.
- Temperature detection sensor.
- IoT applications.
- Robot with multiple sensors.
- For controlling and handling more than one motor
- 8-Bit computers.
- Automation and security type projects.