An MCP expander, sometimes referring to units just like the MCP23017 or MCP23008, serves as an enter/output (I/O) port expander. These built-in circuits present extra GPIO (Basic Function Enter/Output) pins to a microcontroller via a serial communication protocol, resembling I2C or SPI. For instance, a microcontroller with restricted I/O pins can interface with an MCP23017 through I2C to achieve 16 extra configurable digital I/O pins.
The utility of I/O expanders lies of their means to reinforce the capabilities of microcontrollers in techniques requiring a lot of inputs and outputs. This eliminates the necessity for a extra advanced and costly microcontroller. They’re particularly helpful in functions resembling controlling a number of LEDs, studying quite a few sensor inputs, or interfacing with keypads. Traditionally, the necessity for such units arose from the constraints of early microcontrollers, driving the event of environment friendly options for increasing I/O capabilities with out considerably growing system complexity.
