A potentiometer comes in analog and digital varieties. It is a three-terminal component that has sliding or rotating contacts to create a voltage divider that may be adjusted.
When two terminals are used, it serves as a variable resistor or rheostat. The potentiometer can be used for a wide range of things, including joystick position sensors and tone or volume controls in audio systems.
Analog potentiometer:
It shows a mechanical or analog potentiometer. It comprises a sliding contact resistive element that may be manually turned with the hand.
Three terminals are present, and there is a resistive element between the two terminals as illustrated.
The resistive element and wiper are connected at different positions in the third one. The wiper is manually moved by hand in this kind of pot.
Mechanical potentiometers are another name for analog potentiometers.
Digital potentiometer:
The interface, control, and registers make up this component. External control signals from the serial bus are used as input signals for the digital portion. Internal signals stored in internal volatile and non-volatile registers or signals that move the wiper are outputs.
Nonvolatile digital devices may maintain resistance value no matter the environment.
In this post type, a computer, microcontroller, or microprocessor is used to digitally control the wiper. Similar to an analog potentiometer, these digital input signals can be used to change the resistance between two terminals.
Serial buses may be either synchronous or asynchronous.
Additionally known as electronic potentiometers.
Hence, Potentiometer can be both analog and digital.