The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega2560. It features 54 digital input/output pins (of which 14 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a ceramic resonator (16Mhz), a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button.
The Arduino Mega 2560 Rev3 offers full microcontroller support and is easy to connect with a USB cable, AC-DC adapter or battery and you can start right away! The Mega is compatible with most shields made for the Arduino Uno, the Duemilanove or the Diecimila.
New features of the R3 version are:
- ATmega16U2 as USB-to-serial converter instead of the 8U2
- 1.0 Pinout: Additional SDA and SCL pins, placed near the AREF pin, for TWI communication and two other new pins at the RESET pin: the IOREF that allows shields to adapt to the voltage supplied by the board. The second pin is a disconnected pin, reserved for future use
- Stronger circuit breaker