Timers

LECTURE# 12
MICROPROCESSOR SYSTEMS AND INTERFACING

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Last Lecture
Signed number in Assembly Language
Overflow in signed numbers
◦ Conditional branching with signed numbers

Logical and Compare instructions

Rotate and Shift Instructions
◦ ROR, ROL, LSL, LSR, ASR instructions

SWAP instruction
BCD and ASCII conversion using assembly
Timers
◦ Timer0 in Normal mode

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Introduction of Timers
Timer is a register gets incremented with every tick of clock
The clock can be internal or external
Timers are used to generate time delays
Oscillator
◦ Using internal or fixed clock. Counter register
◦ Number of ticks define the time passed External Source

Flag
Also called counter Timer/Counter
◦ To count occurrence of an event
◦ Using an external source for timer/counter tick

AVR ATMEGA32/16 and ATmega328/164 has three timers

◦ Timer0/Timer2 is 8-bits wide, while Timer1 is 16-bits wide.

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Timers in AVR ATmega32/16
Timer0
Timer0/Timer2 are 8-bit & Timer1 is 16-bit TOV0 TCNT0 OCR0

Each timer has following registers TCCR0 =

◦ Timer/Counter Register (TCNTn), a counter (comparator)

◦ Overflow rolls over to zero and sets TOVn flag OCF0

◦ Timer/Counter Control Register TCCRn
◦ For Mode of operation (WGM00-01) Timer1 TOV0
OCR1B TCNT1 OCR1B
◦ Selecting clock source (CS00:02)
◦ Force Compare Match (FOC0)
TCCR1A = =
◦ Compare output mode (COM00-01) (comparator) (comparator)
TCCR1B
◦ Output Compare Register (OCRn) OCF1B OCF1B
◦ compare with the contents of TCCTn
◦ When equal sets OCFn flag Timer2
TOV2 TCNT2 OCR2

A TIFR (Timer/Counter Interrupt Flag Register) =

TCCR2
◦ contains TOVn and OCFn for each timer (comparator)

OCF2
OCF2 TOV2 ICF1 OCF1A OCF1B TOV1 OCF0 TOV0

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Programming Timer0
WGM01 WGM00

0
ClkI/O
1 Control Unit
Clk/8
2
Clk/64
Pre 3 MUX
Clk/256
scalar 4
Clk/1024 count up/down clear
5 OCR0
Falling TCNT0
Edge 6
Rising 7 8 8
detector
TOV0 Comparator
CS02 CS00 =
T0 CS01
OCF0

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Programming Timer0
8-bit timer TCNT0
TCCR0(Timer/Counter Control Register)
FOC0 WGM00 COM01 COM00 WGM01 CS02 CS01 CS00

Also TOV0 and OCF0 flag in TIFR CS02 CS01 CS00 Clock Source
WGM00 WGM01 Mode 0 0 0 No clock source (Timer/counter stopped)
0 0 Normal 0 0 1 clk (no prescaling)
0 1 CTC (Clear Timer on Compare Match) 0 1 0 clk /8
1 0 PWM, phase correct 0 1 1 clk /64
1 1 Fast PWM 1 0 0 clk /256
1 0 1 clk /1024
1 1 0 External clock on T0 pin (falling edge)**
1 1 1 External clock on T1 pin (rising edge)**
*COM00 COM01 (Compare output mode)
**Will behave as counter

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Timer0 Normal Mode
Timer/Counter increments on every tick of clock
◦ Until it reaches the maximum value of 255 (0xFF)
◦ Upon next tick, it rolls over to zero and set TOV0 (timer overflow) flag
Steps TCNT0
◦ Load the TCNT0 with initial value 0xFF
◦ Load TCCR0, to
1. Select clock source and prescalar
0
2. And WGM00:01 = 00 time
3. Poll TOV0 flag, when it is raised
◦ Get out of the loop
4. Stop the timer by loading CS02:CS00 = 000, this may also be skipped
5. Clear TOV0 flag
6. Go back to step 1

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Timer0 Normal Mode (cont.)
Create a square wave of 50% duty cycle on PORTB.5 pin.
Calculate the delay generate by the timer in above program
Analyze the above program to find frequency of the square wave
How to generate a custom delay
◦ Finding values to be loaded into timer
◦ Using hex to decimal to hex converter
◦ Using negative values in assembly

Maximum delay possible by the timer0 with 𝑓𝑜𝑠𝑐 = 10 MHz?

Maximum delay using Prescalar?

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Timer0 Normal Mode Example
Create a square wave
of 50% duty cycle on
PORTB.5. Use Timer0
in Normal mode
Calculate the Delay
generated by the
program?
Frequency of the wave
generated?
Try negative values
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.INCLUDE "M32DEF, INC"
;Stack Initialize
LDI R16, 1<<5 ;R16 = 0b0010 0000
SBI DDRB, 5 ;PB5 as an output
LDI R17, 0
OUT PORTB, R17 ;clear PORTB
BEGIN: RCALL DELAY ;call timer delay
EOR R17, R16 ;toggle D5 of R1
OUT PORTB, R17 ;toggle PB5
RJMP BEGIN
;-------------------------------Timer0 delay
DELAY: LDI R20, 0xF2 ;R20 = OxF2
OUT TCNT0, R20 ;load timer0
LDI R20, 0x01
OUT TCCR0, R20 ;Tim0 Normal mode,int clk
AGAIN: IN R20, TIFR ;read TIFR
SBRS R20, TOV0 ;if TOV0=1,skip nxt inst.
RJMP AGAIN
LDI R20, 0x0
OUT TCCR0, R20 ;stop Timer0
LDI R20, (1<<TOV0)
OUT TIFR, R20 ;clear TOV0 flag
RET
9
Timers in AVR ATmega328
Timer0/2 – 8-bit
Timer/Counter Register
◦ TCNTn
◦ Overflow rolls over to zero and sets TOVn flag

Timer/Counter Control Register

◦ TCCRnA, TCCRnB
◦ For Mode of operation (WGM00-02)
◦ Selecting clock source (CS00:02)
◦ Force Compare Match (FOC0)
◦ Compare output mode (COM00-01)

Output Compare Register

◦ OCRnA and OCRnB
◦ compare with the contents of TCCTn
◦ When equal sets OCFn flag

Timer/Counter Interrupt Flag Register)

◦ TIFRn
◦ contains TOVn, OCFnA & OCFnB
◦ for each timer

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 Timers in AVR ATmega328
Timer0 Registers

COM0x
Description
[1:0]
Normal, OC0x
00
disconnected
Toggle OC0x on
01
compare match
Clear OC0x on
10
compare match
Set OC0x on
11
compare match

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 ATmega328
Timer0 Normal Mode Example
LDI R16, 1<<5 ;R16 = 0b0010 0000 LDI R16, 1<<5 ;R16 = 0b0010 0000
SBI DDRB, 5 ;PB5 as an output SBI DDRB, 5 ;PB5 as an output
LDI R17, 0 ATmega32 LDI R17, 0 ATmega328P
OUT PORTB, R17 ;clear PORTB OUT PORTB, R17 ;clear PORTB
BEGIN: RCALL DELAY ;call timer delay BEGIN:RCALL DELAY ;call timer delay
EOR R17, R16 ;toggle D5 of R1 EOR R17, R16 ;toggle D5 of R1
OUT PORTB, R17 ;toggle PB5 OUT PORTB, R17 ;toggle PB5
RJMP BEGIN RJMP BEGIN
;-------------------------------Timer0 delay ;-------------------------------Timer0 delay
DELAY: LDI R20, 0xF2 ;R20 = OxF2 DELAY:LDI R20, 0xF2 ;R20 = 0xF2
OUT TCNT0, R20 ;load timer0 OUT TCNT0, R20 ;load timer0
LDI R20, 0x01 LDI R20, 0x00
OUT TCCR0, R20 ;Tim0 Normal mode,int clk OUT TCCR0A, R20 ;Tim0 Normal mode
AGAIN: IN R20, TIFR ;read TIFR LDI R20, 0x01
SBRS R20, TOV0 ;if TOV0=1,skip nxt inst. OUT TCCR0B, R20 ;Tim0 Normal mode, int clk
RJMP AGAIN AGAIN:IN R20, TIFR0 ;read TIFR
LDI R20, 0x0 SBRS R20, TOV0 ;if TOV0=1,skip nxt inst.
OUT TCCR0, R20 ;stop Timer0 RJMP AGAIN
LDI R20, (1<<TOV0) LDI R20, 0x0
OUT TIFR, R20 ;clear TOV0 flag OUT TCCR0B, R20 ;stop Timer0
RET LDI R20, (1<<TOV0)
OUT TIFR0, R20 ;clear TOV0 flag
RET

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Timer0 CTC mode
CTC (Clear Timer0 on Compare Match)
◦ Increments on clock tick as normal mode
◦ When the TCNT0 value matches OCR0 value
◦ TCNT0 is reset to zero in the next cycle and OCF0 flag is set

Suitable for recurring delay unlike Normal mode

◦ Does not have the re-initialize TCNT0 value
◦ The delay value is directly loaded in to OCR0 register only once without
subtraction or negative sign
TCNT0
0xFF
OCR0

0
time

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 Timer0 CTC mode example
.INCLUDE "M32DEF, INC"
Same as previous example LDI R16, 0x08
on Normal mode, except SBI DDRB, 3 ;PB3 as an output
LDI R17, 0
using CTC mode here BEGIN: OUT PORTB, R17 ;PORTB = R17
RCALL DELAY
Calculate the Delay EOR R17, R16 ;toggle D3 of R17
RJMP BEGIN
generated by the program? ; --------------- Timer0 Delay
DELAY: LDI R20, 0
Frequency of the wave OUT TCNT0, R20
LDI R20, 9
generated? OUT OCR0, R20 ;load OCR0
LDI R20, 0x09
Overhead due to OUT TCCR0, R20 ;Timer0, CTC mode,int clk
AGAIN: IN R20, TIFR ;read TIFR
instructions SBRS R20, 0CF0 ;if OCF0 is set skip next inst.
RJMP AGAIN
LDI R20, 0x0
OUT TCCR0, R20 ;stop Timer0
LDI R20, 1<<OCF0
TIFR
OUT TIFR, R20 ;clear OCF0 flag
OCF2 TOV2 ICF1 OCF1A OCF1B TOV1 OCF0 TOV0 RET

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 ATmega328
Timer0 CTC mode example
LDI R16, 0x08
Same as previous example SBI DDRB, 3 ;PB3 as an output
on Normal mode, except LDI R17, 0
BEGIN: OUT PORTB, R17 ;PORTB = R17
using CTC mode here RCALLDELAY
EOR R17, R16 ;toggle D3 of R17
Calculate the Delay RJMPBEGIN
;-------------------------------- Timer0 Delay
generated by the program? DELAY: LDI R20, 0
OUT TCNT0, R20
Frequency of the wave LDI R20, 9
OUT OCR0A, R20 ;load OCR0
generated? LDI R20, 0x02
OUT TCCR0A, R20 ;Timer0, CTC mode
Overhead due to LDI R20, 0x01
OUT TCCR0B, R20 ;Timer0, CTC mode,int clk
instructions AGAIN: IN R20, TIFR0 ;read TIFR
SBRS R20, OCF0A ;if OCF0 is set skip next inst.
RJMP AGAIN
LDI R20, 0x0
OUT TCCR0B, R20 ;stop Timer0
TIFR
LDI R20, 1<<OCF0A
OCF0B OCF0A TOV0 OUT TIFR0, R20 ;clear OCF0 flag
HERE: RJMP HERE

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ATmega328
Timer 2 Block Diagram
Timer 2 is another 8-bit timer
◦ similar to Timer 0

Dedicated External oscillator

◦ Can be connected
◦ E.g. 32.768 KHz for RTC

More prescalar options

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 ATmega328
Timer 2 Registers
COM2x
[1:0]
a Description

Normal, OC0x
00
disconnected
Toggle OC0x on
01
compare match
Clear OC0x on
10
compare match
Set OC0x on
11
compare match

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ATmega328
Timer 1 – 16 bit timer
16-bit, split into two bytes
◦ TCNT1H and TCNT1L

Two control Registers, wide

number of modes
◦ TCCT1A and TCCR1B

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ATmega328
Timer 1 – 16 bit timer

Following 160bit register are not shown here

TCNT1 – TCNT1H/TCNT1L
OCR1A – OCR1AH/OCR1AL
OCR1B – OCR1BH/OCR1BL
ICR1 – OCR1H/OCR1L

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Counter Programming
Timers can be used to count occurrence of an event
◦ Like clock input source is connected to a door
◦ Find frequency of a wave

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