Unit 6: Controllers and Embedded Logic

The controller is where physical signals become program values and program decisions become electrical commands.

Open the black box

This Unit asks: what is actually happening between a sensor reading and an actuator command?

The Controller in the Middle traces conversion and timing. Digital, Analog, and PWM Are Different Ideas separates interface types that beginners often collapse into the word "signal." State Machines Beat Spaghetti Logic gives behavior an explicit structure.

You are no longer allowed to say "the board reads it" without being able to describe what kind of input reaches the board.

Build an execution model

Keep an input-process-output map and a small state-machine trace.

The map should show the physical quantity or command before it becomes software, and what transformation occurs on the way. The state trace should show which conditions actually cause transitions.

Controller, microcontroller, digital, analog, PWM, state, loop, and latency are working terms now, not glossary decoration.

Simulation or pseudocode is enough. The target is understanding timing and interfaces, not one brand of controller.