Which microcontroller should i use

Using the software architecture and the communication peripherals included in the application, an engineer can estimate how much flash and RAM will be required for the application.

It will save many headaches in the future. Now that there is a better idea of what the required features of the microcontroller will be the search can begin! One place that can be a good place to start is with a microcontroller supplier such as Arrow, Avnet, Future Electronics or similar.

Talk with an FAE about your application and requirements and often times they can direct you to a new part that is cutting edge and meets the requirements. Just keep in mind that they might have pressure on them at that time to push a certain family of microcontrollers! The next best place to start is with a silicon provider that you are already familiar with. For example, if you have used Microchip parts in the past and had a good experience with them, then start at their website.

From that list the engineer can then move forward towards selecting a microcontroller. At this point the selection process has revealed a number of potential candidates. This is a great time to examine the power requirements and cost of the part. If the device will be powered from a battery and mobile, then making sure the parts are low-power is absolutely precarious. With the list of potential parts in hand, now is a good time to start checking on how available the part is.

Some of the things to keep in mind are what the lead times for the part? Are they kept in stock at multiple distributors or is there 6 — 12 week lead time? What are your requirements for availability?

Then there is a question of how new the part is and whether it will be around for the duration of your product life cycle. If your product will be around for 10 years then you need to find a part that the manufacturer guarantees will still be built in 10 years. One of the best parts of selecting a new microcontroller is finding a development kit to play with and learn the inner working of the controller.

Once an engineer has settled their heart on the part they want to use they should research what development kits are available. Paying any more than that unless it is designed to work with multiple processor modules is just too much.

Another part may be a better choice. The selection of the development kit nearly solidifies the choice of microcontroller. The last consideration is to examine the compiler and tools that are available. Most microcontrollers have a number of choices for compilers, example code and debugging tools.

It is important to make sure that all the necessary tools are available for the part. Without the right tools the development process could become tedious and expensive. Even with the selection a microcontroller nothing is set in stone. Reply 7 years ago on Introduction. Yes, this article is almost 8 years old now. It was supposed to have put forth some general principles that a hobbyist might use to select a microcontroller, rather than get into a "x is better than y" debate.

And those principles were supposed to stay reasonably accurate regardless of changes in specific products. On the other hand, I think the question has changed somewhat. Today, whether you use a single chip or a module-scale product has become a much more significant issues, and the breadth of the "modules" has become very large.

I am a final year student working on my FYP project, which contains 9 resistive type sensors, 5 contact sensors and 2 accelemeter or Gyro.

Reply 8 years ago on Introduction. The original article is getting a bit old, but This is enough 'stuff' that you can immediately eliminate some candidates; an Arduino Uno, or the microcontroller it uses, is probably not enough, for example. The "microprocessor" vs "microcontroller" issue is usually determined by memory use, and you don't say anything about what your software needs to do or how big you expect it to be.

You can get microprocessor systems with megabytes to gigabytes of RAM, while it's a rare microcontroller than has more than 64k. A big question is "chips or module" - A beaglebone will probably do everything you need, if you're "allowed" to use a pre-built system like that with some added stuff for specific sensors, plus software. OTOH, a Beaglebone is probably above the complexity of what you would be expected to build for this class of project.

Insufficient information. Insufficient spelling. And it's sorta weird in several ways. Thank you for the information and code of ethics. Here are some extra information about getting free samples. I'm guessing quite a few things have happened in 7 years. For instance, the Arduino mention probably deserves some more prominence to name one thing.

Again, thank you! That said, any sort of image processing usually moves into the realm of needing multiple megabytes of memory, rather than the "several kbytes" that you see on most microcontrollers. That probably means that you'd be best off with one of the newer "single board computers" like Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone. It's a bit old and expensive by RPi standards, but not horribly so No, the hex file contains the "raw machine code", which is very processor and even chip specific.

Introduction: How to Choose a MicroController. By westfw Follow. More by the author:. About: Middle aged geek username also works at yahoo. The part that actually performs logic and math Memory. How the computer moves data between its other components and the real world. A microprocessor uses microelectronic fabrication techniques to shrink the CPU to a very small size; usually a single "chip.

Just connect up power and it starts doing its thing; computing and talking to the world. A microcontroller is just the thing you want, if you want to talk to individual switches and LEDs PIC vs. Collaborators feel free to extend this page here See also under "modules.

Collaborators feel free to add additional information here Also the smallest ; 11pins in a 3x3mm QFN. Cheap USB "toolstick" eval platforms. Texas Instruments garnered some interest when they introduced bought? Until recently, most of the MSPs were only available in assorted hobbyist-unfriendly SMT packages, but a couple of recent chips have been introduced in DIP packages. And there's a low cost USB-development dongle that offers better than the usual functionality for such things, so maybe things are looking up.

The MSP is one of the few natively bit architetcures in the microcontroller world. Usually this includes a giveaway last year it was one of the eZ things. ARM is a company that designs microprocessor architetcures, and licenses them to manufacturers who build actual chips. If you have a palmtop, it probably contains an ARM-based chip. Your cellphone probably has an ARM based chip. Recently, some of the manufacturers of ARM architecture chips have started offering combinations of on-chip memory and peripherals, and price, that put them into the same marketplace with 8 and 16bit microcontrollers.

If you're likely to need lots of memory and performance, it may be worth looking at ARM chips. Or maybe even if you're NOT. As a professional, the possibility of having a single architecture that spans from 28pin microcontrollers to MHz router CPUs is attractive in many ways.

Currently, I'm finding that the breadth of the ARM space seems to generate some confusion. Putting together a tool set and development environment for a particular ARM chip can be challenging. Periodically, many of the manufacturers of microcontrollers will sponsor "Design Contests" where engineers all over will be challenged to come up with a particularly clever design using a particular microcontroller.

The idea is to entice engineers into looking at THEIR chips even if they're already using some other microcontroller.

Now, users can purchase microcontrollers that have been certified to the latest security standards or use MCUs with on-chip secure hardware. Hardware architecture. Dual in-line packaging is the most common type. Small-outline transistors have a small footprint, and quad flat packs take up more areas but less vertical space. Wafer level chip-scales are much smaller and pack in more processing power but are more expensive to manufacture.

Flat no-lead packages are better in heat diffusion. Ball grid arrays BGAs have high performance due to the compact package but also cost more to fabricate.

Processing power. How much processing power do you require for the task, will a single core processor suffice, or do you need a dual-core? A multicore processor will be significantly faster, but it will also consume more energy. Also, will a graphics processing unit GPU be necessary?

Microcontrollers are available in different bit rates like 8-bit, bit, bit and bit rates. Bit size is very important in selecting a microcontroller for your project.

The performance of the microcontroller increases with the increase in bit size. While bit microcontrollers have 4,,, unique memory locations that results in some extra features like SPI, I2C, floating-point units and process-related functions. While choosing a microcontroller for your project lookout for community support and supporting documents including; code samples, reference designs, after-sales help and forums. If you face any problem during the step by step implementation of your project, you can read these documents, or you can ask for help through forums.

It is important to select a microcontroller with a good development kit, so you can quickly start building prototype and learn the inner working of the controller. Also consider the availability of Assembler, Debugger, a code efficient C compiler, emulator while choosing the microcontroller. I hope that this article helps you to choose the right microcontroller for your project.

There are some other factors that can also be considered in your search of microcontroller, but the above-mentioned factors are very important. We will never spam you. How to Choose the Right Microcontroller.

Important Factors for Choosing a Microcontroller 1.