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25.1: Introduction

  • Page ID
    35902
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    As useful as digital input/output ports are, there is also a need for continuously variable or analog ports. Controllers are, of course, inherently digital devices but that doesn’t mean that analog signals are out of bounds. There is considerable variation in what is available on any given microcontroller, though. On some units, analog to digital and digital to analog circuitry must be added to the controller system as peripheral devices. This is particularly true for less expensive controllers or for more specialized applications that require extreme performance (for example, a high definition digital audio recorder or playback device). Most general purpose controllers have an analog to digital converter (ADC) and some also include a digital to analog converter (DAC). The resolution and speed of these converters can vary quite a bit from controller to controller. In this chapter we shall focus on the ADC system found in the ATmega series. While our discussion will be quite specific, the concepts presented apply to many other controllers made by other manufacturers. Only the performance and operational details may differ.

    A typical use of an ADC is to capture the value of an external sensor or user input device at a particular point in time. For instance, we may wish to measure the output voltage from a temperature or light sensor. Regarding a user interface device, one possibility is to measure the voltage developed across a potentiometer (the outer terminals connected to power and ground, the wiper attached to the analog input port). As the user rotates the pot, the voltage shifts. This voltage could represent all manner of variables from the loudness setting for music playback to the speed of a motor. These sorts of applications can be considered “snapshot” or single conversion uses. That is, we don’t spend all of our time continuously converting the port voltage to digital values the way we would with, say, a waveform capture device. In the case of something like a temperature sensor, we simply perform conversions as we need them. For user interface devices, as long as we can obtain values at a sufficiently fast rate, the control will appear continuous to the user. In some applications this may require no more than a dozen or so conversions per second. This is compared to tens of thousands of conversions per second for something like digitizing audio signals.

    Of course, we may need to have several user interface devices. Consider something as common as a stereo receiver. Typically we would find knobs for volume, balance, bass, treble and so forth. It would be very impractical to have a single knob that controls everything and a series of buttons alongside it to indicate the current function of the knob. Alternately, in industrial setting we might need to monitor temperatures at several locations along with other environmental parameters. While we could use one ADC for each of these, it makes far more sense to use a single ADC and multiplex it to several external pins. Think of these as multiple input channels. We select the channel (sensor) we want, make the measurement and continue on.

    This is not to say that we only use this “snapshot” mode. There are other applications that require continuous monitoring of the external signal and other techniques of obtaining the measurement. Consequently, ADC systems can be configured for a single on-demand conversion as above, they can be free-running or the conversion can be triggered by some other event. Because of these demands, the circuitry and programming interface for analog inputs tends to be much more involved (and much more flexible) than we’ve seen for digital inputs. For example, ADC systems often have several registers and bits devoted to specifying parameters such as the sample acquisition mode, the conversion speed, data justification, pin muxing and so forth.


    This page titled 25.1: Introduction is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by James M. Fiore via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.