Arduino Nano

The Arduino Nano is a small Arduino board based on ATmega328P or ATmega628 Microcontroller. The connectivity is the same as the Arduino UNO board.

The Nano board is defined as a sustainable, small, consistent, and flexible microcontroller board. It is small in size compared to the UNO board. The Arduino Nano is organized using the Arduino (IDE), which can run on various platforms. Here, IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment.

The devices required to start our projects using the Arduino Nano board are Arduino IDE and mini USB. The Arduino IDE software must be installed on our respected laptop or desktop. The mini USB transfers the code from the computer to the Arduino Nano board.

Drawback: The DC power jack is absent in Nano. Thus, we cannot use a battery to apply any external power supply.

The Arduino Nano is shown below:

Why is Arduino Nano used?

Using the constant voltage, the Arduino Nano is used to produce a clock of a precise frequency.

What is the difference between Arduino UNO and Nano board?

• The Arduino Nano has a compact size and mini USB cable than the Arduino UNO. We can use Nano instead of UNO because both operate on the microcontroller ATmega328p.
• The Arduino UNO is also easily available than Nano. It is considered as the standard board available in the market, which is easy for use for the starters or beginners.
• The Nano is available in PDIP (Plastic Dual - Inline Package), while Arduino UNO is available in TQFP (Plastic Quad Flat Pack).
• The Arduino UNO includes 6 analog pin inputs, 14 digital pins, a USB connector, a power jack, and an ICSP (In-Circuit Serial Programming) header. The Arduino Nano includes an I/O pin set of 14 digital pins and 8 analog pins. It also includes 6 Power pins and 2 Reset pins.

Memory

The memory in Arduino Nano is shown in the below image:

The preinstalled flash has a boot loader, which takes the memory of 2Kb.

Technical Specifications

The technical specifications of the Arduino Nano board are:

• The operating voltage of the Nano board varies from 5V to 12V.
• The total pins in Nano are 22 Input/Output pins.
• There are 14 digital pins and 8 analog pins.
• There are 6 PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) pins among the 14 digital pins. The 6 PWM pins in Arduino Nano are used to convert the digital signals into the analog signals. The conversion takes place by varying the width of the pulse.
• The crystal oscillator present in Arduino Nano comes with a frequency of 16MHz.
• The Arduino Nano is used in various applications such as Robotics, Control System, Instrumentation, Automations, and Embedded Systems.
• The projects created using Arduino Nano are QR Code Scanner, DIY Arduino Pedometer, etc.
• We can also connect Arduino Nano to the Wifi.
• The functionality of Nano is similar to the Arduino UNO.
• The flexibility and eco-friendly nature of Nano make it a unique choice to create electronic devices and projects with compact size.

How to get started with Arduino Nano?

We can program the Arduino Nano using the Arduino IDE.

We can also use Arduino Web Editor, which allows us to upload sketches and write the code from our web browser (Google Chrome recommended) to any Arduino Board. It is an online platform.

The steps to get started with Arduino Nano are listed below:

1. Open the code or sketch written in the Arduino software.
2. Select the port and the type of board.
   The ATmega328p microcontroller is used in the Arduino Nano. So, we will select the Processor as ATmega328p.
   Click on 'Tools' and select Processor, as shown below:
   
3. Now, upload and run the written code or sketch.

To upload and run, click on the button present on the top panel of the Arduino display, as shown below:

Within the few seconds after the compile and run of code or sketch, the RX and TX light present on the Arduino board will flash.

The 'Done Uploading' message will appear after the code is successfully uploaded. The message will be visible in the status bar.