computer science

RP2040

RP2040 is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand RP2040 rather than just read about it. In short: RP2040 is a 32-bit dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller designed by Raspberry Pi Ltd. In January 2021, it was released as part of the Raspberry Pi Pico board.

Key takeaways

RP2040 belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect RP2040 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of RP2040 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

RP2040 is a 32-bit dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller designed by Raspberry Pi Ltd. In January 2021, it was released as part of the Raspberry Pi Pico board. Its successor is the RP2350 series.

Overview Announced on 21 January 2021, the RP2040 is the first microcontroller designed by Raspberry Pi Ltd. The microcontroller is low cost, with the Raspberry Pi Pico being introduced at US$4 and the RP2040 itself costing US$1. The microcontroller can be programmed in assembly, C, C++, Forth, Swift, Free Pascal, Rust, Go, MicroPython, CircuitPython, PicoRuby, Ada, TypeScript and Zig. It is powerful enough to run TensorFlow Lite. At announcement time, four other manufacturers (Adafruit, Pimoroni, Arduino, SparkFun) were at advanced stages of their product design, awaiting the widespread availability of chips to be put into production. Hackaday notes the benefits of the RP2040 as being from Raspberry Pi, having a good feature set, and being released in low-cost packages. Multiple stepping levels of the chip have been produced.

Features The RP2040 chip is a 7-by-7-millimetre (0.28 in × 0.28 in) QFN-56EP surface-mount device (SMD) package manufactured by TSMC using its 40 nm process.

Key features: Dual ARM Cortex-M0+ cores (ARMv6-M instruction set), Originally run at 133 MHz, but later certified at 200 MHz Each core has an integer divider peripheral and two interpolators 264 KB SRAM in six independent banks (four 64 KB, two 4 KB) No internal flash or EEPROM memory (after reset, the boot-loader loads firmware from either external flash memory or USB into internal SRAM) QSPI bus controller supports up to 16 MB of external flash memory DMA controller, 12 channel, 2 IRQ AHB crossbar, fully-connected On-chip programmable low-dropout regulator (LDO) to generate core voltage Two on-chip PLLs to generate USB and core clocks 30 GPIO pins, of which four can optionally be used as analog inputs Peripherals: One USB 1.1 (LS & FS) controller and PHY, host and device support, 1.5 Mbit/s (Low Speed) and 12 Mbit/s (Full Speed) Two UART controllers Two SPI controllers One QSPI (quad SPI) controller (SSI), supports 1 / 2 / 4-bit SPI transfers, 1 chip select Two I²C controllers Eight PIO (programmable input–output) state machines 16 PWM channels 4-channel 12-bit 500-ksps SAR ADC, extra channel is connected to internal temperature sensor For comparison with the RP2350, see RP2350 § Family comparison.

Boards A number of manufacturers have announced their own boards using the RP2040. A selection of the growing number is here:

See also Arduino – a popular microcontroller board family ESP32 – a series of low-cost, low-power system on a chip microcontrollers with integrated Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth. STM32 – a family of 32-bit microcontroller integrated circuits Raspberry Pi – Raspberry Pi's series of small single board computers Thumby (console) – a thumb-sized micro-console powered by the RP2040

References

External links

Official webpage Official documentation

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with RP2040

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what RP2040 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to RP2040 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about RP2040 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of RP2040

In research: RP2040 appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses RP2040 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: RP2040 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics ARM-based microcontrollers, British inventions, Computer science education in the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for RP2040 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study RP2040 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what RP2040 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain RP2040 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is RP2040 in simple terms?

RP2040 is a 32-bit dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller designed by Raspberry Pi Ltd. In January 2021, it was released as part of the Raspberry Pi Pico board.

Why does RP2040 matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study RP2040?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on RP2040.