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Direct Memory Access (DMA) is a capability provided by some computer bus architectures that allows data to be sent directly from an attached device (such as a disk drive) to the memory on the computer's motherboard. The microprocessor is freed from involvement with the data transfer, thus speeding up overall computer operation.

Direct memory access is system that can control the memory system without using the CPU. On a specified stimulus, the module will move data from one memory location or region to another memory location or region. While it is limited in its flexibility, there are many situations where automated memory access is much faster than using the CPU to manage the transfers. Systems like the ADC, DAC and PWM capturing all require frequent and regular movements of memory out of their respective systems. The DMA can be configured to handle moving the collected data out of the peripheral module and into more useful memory locations (like arrays). Only memory can be accessed this way, but most peripheral systems, data registers, and control registers are accessed as if they were memory. The DMA is intended to be used in low power mode because it uses the same memory bus as the CPU and only one or the other can use the memory at the same time.