Arduino Pro Mini

19 March 2018 - 0 Comments

Arduino Pro Mini

Arduino Pro Mini Pin Diagram

ARDUINO PRO MINI board is one of the application boards. Since it is an application board, it does not have an in-built programmer. USB port and other connectors are also removed. Because once it is placed in an application, programmer and connectors are basically useless.

ARDUINO PRO MINI is of two types; they are differentiated based on CONTROLLER working voltage. One is +3.3V and another is +5V. Choose the appropriate board based on application.

ARDUINO PRO MINI Pinout Configuration

PIN GROUP	PIN NAME	DESCRIPTION
POWER SOURCE	VCC, GND, and RAW	VCC - Connected to +5V or +3.3V GND – Connected to GROUND RAW – Connected to Unregulated power supply 5+V to +12V
COMMUNICATION INTERFACE	UART Interface(RXD, TXD) SPI Interface(MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS ) TWI Interface(SDA, SCL)	UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) Interface can be used to program PRO MINI SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) Interface ban be used to program PRO MINI TWI (Two Wire Interface) Interface can be used to connect peripherals.
INPUT OUTPUT PINS	PD0 to PD7 (8 pins of PORTD) PB0 to PB5 (6 pins of PORTB) PC0 to PC6 (7 pins of PORTC) ADC6 and ADC7(2 additional pins)	Although these 23 pins have many functions, they can be considered as data I/O pins.
ANALOG to DIGITAL CONVERTER	ADC0, ADC1, ADC2,…ADC7	These channels can be used to input Analog signals. There are of 10 bit resolution.
PWM	OC0A,OC0B,OC1A,OC1B,OC2A,OC2B	These six channels can provide PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) outputs. They are of 8 bit resolution.
RESET	RESET	Resets the controller.
EXTERNAL INTERRUPTS	T0 and T1	These two pins are specially designed hardware interrupts.
ANALOG COMPARATOR	AIN0 and AIN1	These two pins are connected to an internal comparator.

ARDUINO PRO MINI Technical Specifications

Microcontroller	Atmega328p – 8 BIT AVR controller
Operating Voltage	5V and 3.3V
Raw Voltage input	5V to 12V
Maximum current through each I/O pin	40mA
Maximum total current drawn from chip	200mA
Flash Memory	32KBytes
EEPROM	1KByte
Internal RAM	2Kbytes
Clock Frequency	3.3V --- 8Mhz 5V --- 16Mhz
Operating Temperature	-40ºC to +105ºC

Similar ARDUINO Boards

ARDUINO UNO, ARDUINO MEGA, ARDUINO NANO, ARDUINO DUE, ARDUINO LEONARDO

Other Development Boards

RASPBERRY PI SERIES, INTEL GALILEO, INTEL EDISON, ESP32

Where to Use ARDUINO PRO MINI

All the ARDUINO boards are popular because of ease of understanding and application. Also, the ARDUINO is an open source platform where one can get all related data and original module schematics. In this platform, one can customize the system depending on the need.

There are many ARDUINO boards in the market. They are available with various features and packages. One can choose appropriate board depending on the need.

There are few cases where PRO MINI is chosen over other Arduino boards:

Case1: Where system is permanent installation. In permanent applications, the board only needs to be programmed once, and that is all. In those cases features provided like USB programmer, I/O connectors and other supporting hardware is useless. The PRO MINI is specifically designed for those systems. This board has only basic hardware just enough for those applications.

Case2: For convenience. This board is one of the smallest boards of ARDUINO. With its comfort size, it can be used in mobile applications.

Case3: With basic hardware the cost of board is considerable lesser.

Case4: With 32Kbytes memory, the PRO MINI can accommodate most application programs.

How to Use ARDUINO PRO MINI

Using PRO MINI is similar to any other development board. All you need to do is program the controller and provide the appropriate peripheral to get system running. We will discuss the programming of PRO MINI in step by step below.

First you need to get a programmer. As mentioned earlier, the PRO MINI does not have an inbuilt programmer, so you cannot connect PRO MINI directly to PC to program it. Choose either UART or SPI programmer. Preferable UART programmer.
Download and install ARDUINO IDE software. [https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software]
List the functions to be performed by PRO MINI.
Write the functions as program in IDE. Remember the program is written in ‘C’ language.
Connect the programmer and establish a communication between IDE and PRO MINI.
Burn the program to PRO MINI through IDE.
Disconnect the programmer. Provide the power and attach the necessary peripherals. After reset, the control executes the program and provides the desired output.