GPIO

Science & Engineering abbreviation · Electronics & Electrical

GPIO
Stands forGeneral-purpose input/output
CategoriesScience & Engineering

GPIO stands for General-purpose input/output, an electronics & electrical abbreviation.

Uncommitted digital pin on a microcontroller, processor or single-board computer that software can configure as an input, to read buttons and sensors, or as an output, to drive LEDs and relays. GPIO pins are the basic way embedded systems interact with the physical world.

Example: Wire the push button between GPIO 17 and ground and enable the internal pull-up resistor.

Usage notes

The Raspberry Pi's 40-pin header exposes GPIO pins at 3.3-volt logic, which can be damaged by 5-volt signals. Many GPIO pins have alternate functions such as PWM, I2C or SPI. Pins are numbered differently by chip and by board, a common source of confusion.

More electronics & electrical abbreviations

  • ESR – Equivalent series resistance
  • FET – Field-effect transistor
  • FM – Frequency modulation
  • FPGA – Field-programmable gate array
  • GFCI – Ground-fault circuit interrupter
  • GND – Ground
  • HDL – Hardware description language
  • HV – High voltage
  • I2C – Inter-Integrated Circuit
  • IC – Integrated circuit
  • IF – Intermediate frequency
  • IGBT – Insulated-gate bipolar transistor

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