Question

Does the Atmega32U4 have a way to handle the brown-out condition?

(a) Yes, it does. It has a provision to programmatically change the brown-out threshold for the chip

(b) No, it does not. It does not have a provision to programmatically change the brown-out threshold for the chip

(c) Yes, it does. But one cannot change the inbuilt brown-out threshold set for the chip during fabrication

(d) Yes, it does. But one can only increase the brown-out threshold for the chip, not decrease it

The question was asked during an internship interview.

My doubt stems from Microcontroller Specifications topic in division AtMega Microcontroller Specifications of Arduino

Answer 1

The correct choice is (a) Yes, it does. It has a provision to programmatically change the brown-out threshold for the chip

The explanation is: The Atmega32U4 has a provision to change the brown-out threshold. A brown-out condition occurs when there is a dip in supply voltage that’s being fed to the chip. If the chip continues to function at that time, then it would lead to wrong calculations being done, and that is harmful especially in applications for different industries. Hence in that condition, the chip resets the operations and starts over.