Jargon buster

Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.

DSI

DSI stands for Display Serial Interface, a high-speed connection commonly used to send video data from a computer board to a display. It matters because DSI signals are not simple GPIO wires, so the cable, connector, and signal routing need to match the display interface.

encoder

A device attached to a motor or shaft that reports movement, such as rotation steps or position. In a pump system, an encoder can help measure or control how much the motor has turned, which affects how repeatable the watering amount can be.

ESP32

ESP32 is a family of microcontroller modules with built-in wireless features such as Bluetooth and WiFi. Knowing this product uses an ESP32-based module helps explain how it provides wireless serial communication and firmware update features.

FPU

A floating-point unit is hardware inside a processor that speeds up calculations with decimal numbers. This helps when projects use maths-heavy tasks such as motion sensing, filtering sensor readings, or audio processing.

ISP

An image signal processor is hardware that helps process raw camera data into usable images or video. It matters for vision projects because it can improve camera handling and reduce the processing load on the main CPU.

JPEG

A compressed image file format commonly used for photos. It matters because the camera sends already-compressed snapshots, which are easier to store on an SD card or transmit over a slow serial link than raw image data.

microcontroller

A microcontroller is a small computer on a chip that runs your program and controls connected inputs and outputs. For this product, it is the part that reads buttons and sensors, drives the display and speaker, and communicates over Bluetooth.

MIPI

MIPI is a high-speed display and camera interface often used inside phones, tablets, and embedded devices. It matters because raw MIPI displays usually need special driver hardware or software support, unlike plug-and-play HDMI screens.

MIPI-CSI

A camera interface used on many embedded computer boards to connect compact camera modules directly to the processor. It matters for vision projects because it can handle high-resolution camera data with less overhead than a USB camera.

RISC-V

An open processor architecture used inside some modern microcontroller chips. It matters because it affects the software tools, performance, and low-power features available for developing projects on the board.

SRAM

Fast temporary memory used by a processor while a program is running. More SRAM helps with projects that handle larger data buffers, networking, displays, or more complex code.