What Are Digital I/O?
A digital input provides a voltage thresholding operation. If the voltage is higher than some value, the computer will detect the digital input as “ON”. If the voltage is lower than some value, the computer will detect the digital input as “OFF”. A digital output allows you to control a voltage with a computer. If the computer instructs the output to be “ON”, the output will produce a voltage (generally about 5 volts). If the computer instructs the output to be “OFF”, it is connected to ground and produces no voltage.