Texas Instruments, commonly known as TI, is a global semiconductor company renowned for its broad portfolio of analog and embedded processing products. With a focus on empowering innovation, TI's semiconductor technologies enable a wide array of applications across industrial, automotive, consumer electronics, and communications sectors. The company's product offerings encompass analog integrated circuits, digital signal processors, microcontrollers, and power management solutions, catering to diverse industry needs. TI's dedication to quality and reliability is evident in its comprehensive testing and validation processes, ensuring that its products meet stringent industry standards. Furthermore, TI actively collaborates with customers to provide technical support, fostering strong partnerships and driving technological advancements. With a global presence and a legacy of over 90 years, Texas Instruments remains at the forefront of semiconductor innovation, delivering solutions that contribute to the advancement of technology and the improvement of everyday life.
I/O Expanders are integrated circuits (ICs) that extend the input/output (I/O) capabilities of microcontrollers or other digital devices. They provide additional pins for connecting peripheral devices and expanding the functionality of the main controller. I/O expanders come in different configurations with varying numbers of input and output pins. They support communication protocols such as I2C, SPI, or GPIO, allowing seamless integration with microcontrollers and digital devices. Each expander has a unique address to differentiate it on the communication bus when multiple expanders are connected. The primary function of I/O expanders is to increase I/O flexibility. By using these ICs, designers can expand the number of available input and output pins, providing flexibility in connecting and controlling peripheral devices. This helps simplify the design of the main controller circuitry by offloading I/O functions to dedicated ICs. Using I/O expanders also offers space and cost savings. Lower pin count microcontrollers can be used while still supporting a larger number of peripherals, resulting in reduced space requirements and overall system costs. The integration of I/O expanders with microcontrollers is straightforward due to standard communication protocols. I/O expanders offer configurable I/O modes for each pin, allowing them to be used as inputs or outputs based on application requirements. This flexibility makes them suitable for various scenarios such as home automation, industrial automation, IoT, and robotics. In these applications, I/O expanders enable the control and monitoring of multiple devices, including sensors, actuators, motors, valves, and more. In summary, Interface - I/O Expanders are ICs that expand the I/O capabilities of microcontrollers and digital devices. They provide additional pins, increase flexibility, simplify design, save space and costs, and offer configurable I/O modes. I/O expanders find applications in diverse fields, enabling the connection and control of various peripheral devices to enhance the functionality and versatility of systems.