General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO)

maker

GPIOs are generic pins on a microcontroller or microprocessor that can be used for input or output functions.

expanded

General Purpose Input/Output pins (GPIOs) facilitate flexible connectivity and communication between a microcontroller and other hardware components, serving either as an input to receive signals or as an output to send signals. They play a crucial role in prototyping and are integral in many embedded systems for interfacing with various sensors, switches, and LEDs around the world.

examples

Using GPIO pins on a Raspberry Pi to control a series of LEDs.

Commonly utilized in educational environments and hobby projects to introduce microcontroller programming by teaching control through code on platforms like Raspberry Pi.

Configuring GPIO pins on an Arduino Uno for reading and transmitting digital signals from a temperature sensor.

Frequently used in environmental monitoring systems where the microcontroller collects data from Dallas DS18B20 sensors via GPIO for data logging applications.

related terms

Header pins

Header pins are electrical connectors used for creating solderless or soldered connections between circuit boards and other components.

Raspberry Pi

A compact, single-board computer developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

HAT (Raspberry Pi)

A Hardware Attached on Top (HAT) is a specification for add-on modules for the Raspberry Pi computer, designed for consistent electrical and mechanical interfacing.

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)

PWM is a modulation technique used to encode information into a pulsing signal by varying the pulse width.

Development Board

A development board is a printed circuit board containing a microcontroller or microprocessor with integrated peripherals and interfaces to facilitate prototyping and development of electronic projects.