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All 4 Flashcards — Control circuits
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Question
What is a microcontroller?
Answer
A programmable integrated circuit — a processor, program and data memory, a clock and converters on one chip — with pins connecting directly to sensors and output devices.
Question
What does a microcontroller replace in a product?
Answer
Timers, comparators, counters and logic gates, often a whole board of them. In a washing machine it replaced a motor-driven cam stack.
Question
Give three things software makes free in a product.
Answer
Delays and sequences; averaging and dead bands; displays, menus and logging. Each would need extra components in a discrete design.
Question
What does using a microcontroller cost?
Answer
Software to write and debug, faults that may be bugs, a response in milliseconds rather than nanoseconds, and a product whose life is limited by how long its software is supported.
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Topic 3.4 hub
Electronic systems
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