Different Kinds Of Arduino boards and their uses

How to Choose your Arduino, Why they are different. and How to make the best out of it.

Have you ever used an Arduino?, if yes then you must have most probably used the UNO or any other replicas available in the market. if not then you must have a faint idea of the types of Arduino boards available in the market, this blog will help you in choosing one.

mainly there are three types of prototyping boards available on the internet, they are

1. Original Arduino/Genuino Boards: They are real boards manufactured by Arduino itself, they are better when compared to other boards available in the market quality wise, they cost from USD 17 to USD 84, the MICRO without the header pins are the cheapest and MKR NB 1500 being the costliest, their specs are vastly different. and so are their uses, this will be explained later. their functions differ vastly, general models like the UNO, MICRO, MEGA, NANO are designed to run as general prototyping boards with differences in their pins configurations, serial ports, connection and size. There are different models like the YUN and LEONARDO which can perform different tasks and can be programmed to interact differently with other devices, for example, the LEONARDO can be connected to a PC as a keyboard.

   

   Authentic Arduino UNO Rev3 From Arduino Store.

2. Replicas of The Arduino Board: These can be of two types, one where a well-rated company like Sparkfun or Adafruit, they produce replicas of the Arduino with the same Atmel processor and are fairly similar in terms quality and price. Throughout this post, I will discuss Arduino Models and some 3rd Party Models only, models like the Sparkfun Redboard belong in a different post,  you can still use models talked about on this post to find such devices that perform similar tasks.

   

   A Sparkfun RedBoard, A brand replica of the Arduino UNO.

3. Knockoffs of Arduino: The second category contains replicas of the Arduino, they look like an Arduino, contain the Arduino logo but are cheap knockoffs of the real one, they are cheaper when compared to the authentic one. The real UNO will cost around USD 22 and knockoff will cost around USD 10, for small temporary projects these are perfect but if you intend for the system to reliable and longlasting then using the knockoffs are not recommended, these could fail at any time and are poorly built. The difference from the original is subtle. at the heart, they both have the same ATMEL microprocessors from the same manufacturer but all other components are from a cheaper source, they can fail at any time. When building projects for fun I would recommend these as they are cheaper and are more expendable, if you are a beginner who wishes to learn Arduino programming and prototyping I would again recommend these. Operational efficiency wise they do not lack behind the real or the replicas, they are just as good in performance and can sometimes do better. If you are building a project I recommend using these to perform the tests and replace with the actual Arduino or Non-Arduino Branded Boards to do the final presentation as they are less likely to fail then and you are more likely to destroy the cheap knockoff if misconnected some wires. 
   
4. 3rd-Party Builds Which are compatible with The Arduino Code: There are several boards available on the market which does not use an Atmel Microprocessor as its main component. Here we will only examine those boards which can be programmed using the Arduino IDE, therefore the raspberry pi products are not included and they belong to a different post. An example of such a product is intel's Edison and Galileo series boards. They use a different processor and only uses the same compilation software, these are mostly costly, because they can perform many other functions that normal Arduinos cant (At least without shield and several Libraries). The Galileo, for example, contains Ethernet ports that can be used in IOT projects. Most Arduino requires a shield and the Galileo also contains a large memory when compared to general Arduino boards. These boards can also run several other programs which include Linux Programs. (The Arduino YUN can run this with a separate processor ). These boards are well able to perform several specific tasks, therefore you could use it run specific projects, and would also recommend you to do so.
   

At the end of the day choosing which of these is basically your wish if your project requires quality and durability uses Authentic products from branded manufacturers like Arduino, Intel, Adafruit etc., and always remember to buy from a trusted vendor their respective official websites. they can be costly but will be long-lasting.

if you are building for fun and a learning experience then use the cheap knockoffs they will suffice your needs and can be very helpful when you make mistakes that would otherwise cost you a large amount of money. once you have completely tested and ensured that there is no chance of an error happening upload the same code to the Authentic one and replace it before you present it for competition etc.

You have decided which of these to use, the next step is to decide what model you will be using. Different Models are meant for different tasks, for GENERAL prototyping purposes, the best ones will be to use any of these models or their replicas.

1. UNO: The Uno board is the most used prototyping board in the world, we will use this board as a benchmark for all the other boards here. It is powered by the famous ATmega328P it contains all the general functions, the specs include 14 digital Input/Output pins of which 6 are PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation). The board can provide both 3.3v and 5v outputs and can take power supply form 6-16V input. The board contains only one Serial Interface and this can be turned to two with the help of a Software Serial Library. UNO models contain 6 Analog Input/Output pins the UNO also contains an ICSP port allowing for In-Circuit Serial Port. The UNO contains 32Kb flash memory of which 0.5Kb is used to hold the bootloader firmware of the Arduino, leaving you the User with 31.5Kb of extra program.
   The model is also available in SMD (Surface Mounted) and PDIP(Plastic Dual In-Line Package) also called the through hole version, the SMD version contains a non-replaceable IC soldered into the board there are no performance differences as they both boast the same memory and processor but in different aesthetics. the PDIP version is recommended because the processor IC can be replaced without much effort, whereas the SMD requires to be desoldered from the board. the UNO, in general, contains a 16Mhz Quartz clock for active timekeeping and boasts.
   The pin arrangement is where the top will contain the digital pin 0-13, a single ground pin, AREF (Analog Reference) pin and the SDA (Serial Data) and SCL (Serial Clock) pins.
   The bottom half contains the Analog pins 0-5 and the power section which contains two GND pins a 3.3V, 5V, Vin, Reset and the IOREF pin. The UNO contains Four LED indicators responsible for indicating the RX, TX communication of the board., the flashing indicator and the power indicator. 

   

   Arduino UNO SMD Edition.

   

   Arduino UNO PDILP Edition.

   
   
2. MICRO: The Micro is advanced but also the smallest board in the list, it is developed by Arduino and Adafruit, the micro is powered by the ATmega32U4 it is a tiny SMD chip, the model is only available in SMD version. the micro does not contain separate Analog and Digital pins, rather there are 20 Digital pins of which 7 can be used as PWM and 12 as Analog pins. The Micro is a 5V level microprocessor, it can supply both 3.3v and 5v output and can handle 7-20V input. the space restriction forces this device to share digital and Analog pins, therefore, the developers used software to make this part functional, the Micro contains the same flash memory as the UNO but software adaptations used to make the hardware work uses more memory it takes up an entire 4Kb of memory, this number is not much in 2019 but with the available memory being just 32Kb, it makes a lot of difference because now you have just 28Kb of memory whereas the UNO will give you a total 31.5Kb. The micro's tiny size makes it a perfect device for being deployed in projects that require agility, a watch, for example, the micro would be the perfect processor to make one, speaking of watches the Micro also contains an inbuilt clock, a 16MHz Quartz clock to be specific.
   The Micro contains a Micro USB port for connecting to a power source and to the computer, the Micro contains ICSP port also.
   The Micro contains three LED indicators, display the RX, TX and the power of the board. The Micro comes with a Reset button which can be used to signal the Microprocessor to restart.

   

   An Arduino Micro

3. NANO: The nano is a similar board when compared to the Micro, but is weaker when compared to the Micro, the device being 18mmx45mm in dimensions contain the same processor as a UNO, the ATmega328P. The Micro will be a higher rated for performance as the device is fairly weaker than it in most parts, the nano uses a Mini USB connector and can only accept power rated through 7-12V.  the Micro boasts a higher flash memory because of the bootloader being just 2Kb and the flash memory being 32Kb at the end you will have 30Kb to run the program from.
   The Nano contains 22 Digital pins other than AUX and power pins, even though they are marked as Analog and Digital, the Analog pins can operate as Digital Pins. pins 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 can operate an 8 Bit PWM output using the analogWrite() function in the code.
   The NANO is a 5V level processor, meaning it will output both 5V and 3.3V outputs.
   Design wise the NANO contains the same processor as the Arduino UNO R3 SMD edition and is an SMD board. the board also has the ICSP function and the reset button, the board comes with three LED indicators for Power, RX, TX, and Flashing.
   because if its specs the model is widely considered to be equal to the predecessor of the UNO the Arduino Duemilanova.

   

   Arduino NANO

4. MEGA 2560: The Mega 2560 or MEGA is the answer when you need more, it has 54 Digital Pins of which 15 are 8bit PWM pins, the board also 16 Separate Analog pins and has 4 Hard Serial ports which can be appended to 5 using a Software Serial Library. The large numbers are on everything, the embedded microprocessor is the ATmega2560, from which the board is named. the processor comes 256Kb fl;ash-meand double EEPROM and SRAM, the large memory can be used to run programs 17 times larger program when compared to all other boards on this section.
   The Mega is an SMD board and is longer than a UNO but almost same width, the Mega contains a DC jack, and USB-B connector, the ATmega 2560 processor is a 5V level processor, therefore it can give both 5V and 3.3V output.