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Question of the Month: What is the most important element when choosing a microcontroller to be used in a project?

dychen

e14 Question of the Month

We're interested in finding out what considerations are most important to you when choosing a microcontroller. Take the poll and let us know, and please tell us why in the Comments section below!

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  • It just has to be "other".

    Requirements can include things like architecture, dev tool experience/ownership etc.

    For some jobs the price of the device is significant  but for others (eg custom test equipment which I do quite a bit of) then it hardly matters at all. The development cost may run into tens of £k and three boards are built (one for me, one for the application and one spare). The cost of the processor just doesn't feature.

    Over the last 2 years the primary issue has been availability - so many parts are unobtainable.

    MK

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  • It just has to be "other".

    Requirements can include things like architecture, dev tool experience/ownership etc.

    For some jobs the price of the device is significant  but for others (eg custom test equipment which I do quite a bit of) then it hardly matters at all. The development cost may run into tens of £k and three boards are built (one for me, one for the application and one spare). The cost of the processor just doesn't feature.

    Over the last 2 years the primary issue has been availability - so many parts are unobtainable.

    MK

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  • in reply to michaelkellett

    Availability and what you have in the cupboard definitely can dominate the decision.

  • in reply to michaelkellett
    michaelkellett said:
    Over the last 2 years the primary issue has been availability - so many parts are unobtainable.

    I found this is where the use of the Arduino IDE, and similarly with MbedOS (+ few others), has added value, especially during prototyping phase, as in most cases you do not have to change your code base to use a different Arduino compatible MCU if the one you started with is no longer available.

    This is also where C++ classes help too if developing your own library.

    Then, thanks to the ease of KiCAD and EasyEDA, I spend a bit more time coming up with different designs based on these different MCU's.

    Being adaptable is the name of the game now.