Abbreviations
Abbreviation |
Meaning |
---|---|
ADC |
Analogue to Digital Converter. A chip which reads an analogue voltage signal. |
ASIC |
Application Specific Integrated Circuit. |
CAN |
Controller Area Network. A 1Mb peer-peer network for vehicles and robots. |
CPU |
Central Processing Unit. A computer processor which runs software. |
CRC |
Cyclic Redundancy Check. An algorithm (or output of) for checking the correctness of incoming data. |
DAC |
Digital to Analogue Converter. A chip which produces an analogue voltage signal. |
EC |
EtherCAT |
EEPROM |
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. |
FPID |
Feed-forward Proportional Integral Derivative controller. An algorithm used to control something on a robot. |
GUI |
Graphical User Interface. |
I/O |
Input / Output |
ICD3 |
In Circuit Debugger 3. A tool used to change the firmware on a PIC microcontroller. |
IMU |
Intertial Measurement Unit. Sensors used to measure acceleration and rotation. |
LED |
Light Emitting Diode. A small coloured light. |
LVDS |
Low Voltage Differential Signal. One of two possible electrical physical layers supported by EtherCAT. |
mA |
milliamps. A unit of electrical current. |
MCU |
Micro Controller Unit. A small, usually embedded, CPU. |
MIPS |
No longer an abbreviation; a word in its own right. A brand of CPU / MCU. |
Nm |
Newton Meters. A unit of torque. |
PC |
Personal Computer. |
PCB |
Printed Circuit Board. |
PID |
Proportional Integral Derivative controller. An algorithm used to control something on a robot. |
PST |
Pressure Sensor Tactile. A simple tactile sensor offered as standard. |
PWM |
Pulse Width Modulation. Digital method used to emulate an analog signal. |
ROS |
Robot Operating System, created by Willow Garage. |
SPI |
Serial Peripheral Interface, allowing an MCU to communicate with an ADC. |