What is Arduino Nano? A Getting Started Guide
Published: 2021-09-14 05:17:28

The Arduino Nano is a small, Compatible device designed on an 8-bit microcontroller, to be used in an embedded system to control and regulate different operations, like motor controller, signal modulation, Robotic Controls, security systems, and much more. The system is designed on the concept of Arduino UNO, and it is used in circuits where we don’t need many complex operations.

##Board overview:

As the name suggests it is smaller in size than the other models of Arduino available in the market, it has 14 pins slots available for external device connections, in which 6 pins were reserved for analog operations, 2 for reset function, and 6 are power pin slots. 
According to its functionality, it comes in two different versions, that are different from the microprocessor used in it. Microprocessors act like a brain to the Arduino device, because all the commands and operational instructions are executed by it.

![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/118vekt4tkfotacegicn.png)

The operating voltage of the board is 5v which is Similar to the other board model, but the operating range of the input voltage in this model is between 5v to 20v. The is no external power source socket is available on this board. Unless Arduino Uno has only 1 voltage regulator for operating conditions.
The main advantage of this board is that it is breadboard friendly device, which means it can easily be attached to any Electronic embedded system, that is why it is mostly used in sensors system applications.
As there is no external power source is available on the board that’s why it is mostly operated through USB ports available on it, But the model does not support ordinary USB ports, rather that it has mini-USB port slots available on it.

##Specifications;

###Memory devices:
As the board comes in two categories as mentioned earlier, which are Ategma 168 and Ategma 328, These are two different types of a microprocessor, these two microprocessors save memory in the form of flash memory, whose capacity is 16KB for Ategma 168 and 32 KB for Ategma 328.

Similarly, other temporary memory devices are [EEPROM](https://ecomputernotes.com/fundamental/input-output-and-memory/eeprom), SRAM, which are 512 kb and 1 KB for Ategma 168 and 1kb and 2kb for Ategma 328. Other than that, a Micro SD card slot is also available for saving programming on the device.

###Pins Specification;
 
As there is a total of 14 GPIO digital pins available on the board for external device connections that are divided as per functionality, The board can be used in those circuits where Circuit is small and we don’t need many connections.
Analog Pins: There is a total of 6 pins are available for analog signal modification; they are used to convert analog signal to digital signal.
 
![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/syz3xtpgkzc48xrf6u4x.png)
 
Power Source and LED: The Board gets the power from the Mini USB port and a LED is available on pin 13 to show the operational usage of the device.
VIN and Voltage Regulator: it is known as an input voltage source that is given to the device, the device operational voltage is 5V while its range is between 5v to 20 v, The voltage regulators give a voltage of 3.3 v to the device for its operational purpose and that can be changed accordingly.

AREF:  It represents the external voltage supplied to the board

GND: Two ground pins are available on the board.

Reset:  two rest pins are available, as Board often got struck in complex operations and Programming.

External Interrupts: External interrupts pins are used in Emergency, PINs 2 and 3 are reserved for this purpose, its function is to interrupt the signal modulation.

USART: Like other board system [Arduino Nano](https://www.theengineeringprojects.com/2018/06/introduction-to-arduino-nano.html) also support USART communication, this communication consists of two pins known as TX and RX, TX are used to send serial signals where RX are used to catch serial signals.

SPI:  serial peripheral interface commonly known as SPI is used for transferring data and commands between microprocessors, and the operated devices, Arduino Nano has the functionality to operate these SPI communications between devices.
 
###USB Ports:
1 Mini USB port is available on the board, In Arduino Nano, the USB port is not only used for programming, and external device connection, but they also serve as a power source as mentioned earlier.
 
###Way to program Arduino Nano:

The Process to Program Arduino nano is just similar to other boards. 
 
Firstly, attach the Arduino Nano with the Computer system to program with the help of a mini-USB cable, the computer will automatically judge out the Arduino board if you are using the latest windows model. If the system does not judge it, then follow the steps as
 
###Device manager—Add device ---Arduino MINI/ AT mega 328 P—click ok.
 
The system will start installing the device drivers and after that open the software name as blink, which will be appeared on the device. This is Arduino IDE programming software which is officially designed by the Arduino company to install programming on the device.
After that step when you open the blink go to the blink option by following the steps as.
 
##File ---Examples—Basic—Blink
 
The steps are shown clearly in the next picture attached. From here you can have a clear map of the device and detail information of the pins and connectors.

![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/30mzla6vc9s7n3iom2po.png)
 
Now as Arduino Nano comes in two board types Selected the board carefully and the port from where you have to boot up the programming. For board, selection follows the path as.
 
##Tools------ Boar---- Arduino AVR Boards ---Arduino Nano.
 
These a quite different steps from other Arduino boards you have to choose bootloader in this step for this Tools ----Processor --ATmega328P, maybe you got their options here, if you get an error in this option try another one as shown in the figure to understand.
 
![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3srko0tjn7dmsakk1jd3.png)

After careful selection of board and Processor, you are ready to install the operational programming on it. Press the button install programming and the system starts its process when the program code is installed properly the Led light which is available on PORT 13 starts blinking, this means your device is ready to use.