1104 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION A N D MEASUREMENT, VOL 38. NO 6.

DECEMBER 1989

Design of a High Performance Digital Tachometer

with a Microcontroller
RICHARD BONERT, MEMBER, IEEE

Abstract-The paper presents the design of a very flexible, low cost

speed evaluation system. The system provides a fast dynamic response
and a high accuracy over a wide speed range. The proposed design is
Encoder
capture i n p .
pulse acc.
1 speed
,signal
digital
suitable for a wide range of applications and can he integrated as part
of an existing tachometer assembly. Hardware requirements and ap-
propriate software structures for a microcontroller implementation are
discussed. The algorithm used to calculate the speed is based on the
0:
method of constant elapsed time. Finally the predicted performance is
verified experimentally. c l o c k 2 MHa speed
( 8 MHz crystal) signal
analog
I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. Tachometer configuration.

A DIGITAL tachometer consists of a shaft encoder and

electronic circuits as shown in Fig. 1. The output of
the shaft encoder provides electric pulses. The frequency
of these pulses is proportional to the rotational speed. A
speed signal is obtained by processing the pulses from the
encoder using an additional electronic circuit. The direc-
tion of the speed can be evaluated using two quadrature
pulses from the encoder.
This paper proposes a new solution for the processing
of the pulses from the encoder to derive the speed signal.
The solution takes advantages of new single chip low cost
programmable microcontrollers. It is shown how' to use
hardware and software combined with a suitable method
for the speed evaluation to design a high performance
tachometer.
Several methods can be used to derive the speed signal
from the encoder pulses of which the method of constant
elapsed time provides the best performance. Details of this
method and competing methods are discussed in Sections
I1 and 111. Section IV discusses the hardware and software
requirements for a single chip microcontroller speed eval-
uation circuit and establishes the achievable performance
and the limitations.
Finally, a design example is given and experimental re-
sults are provided in Section V to illustrate the perfor-
mance of the digital tachometer.
11. SELECTION OF THE METHODOF SPEEDEVALUATION
The following known methods can be used to evaluate counting and time measurement. The time is measured by
the value of the speed:
1) direct pulse counting,
2) single pulse time measurement [ 3 ] ,
Manuscript received December 12, 1988; revised May 9, 1989.
The author is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University
of Toronto, Toronto. Ont., Canada M5S 1A4.
IEEE Log Number 8930978.
3) constant elapsed time (CET) [I],
4) pulse time measurement using a variable number of
counted pulses [2].
The methods 1) and 2) are the same as used in any timer/
counter instrumentation. The methods 3 ) and 4) are a
combination of encoder pulse counting and time measure-
ment.
The CET method has the following advantages. It re-
quires a short measurement time which varies little
throughout the speed range. Moreover, prior information
pertaining to the actual speed range is not required, which
makes this method preferable to that of method 4).In ad-
dition the CET method provides an optimal compromise
between resolution and measurement time, which cannot
be achieved with the simpler methods 1) and 2). A com-
parison of the CET method with the standard methods 1)
and 2) is provided in Table I.
The performance standards used for comparative pur-
poses are the maximum relative speed error A n / n of the
measured speed n , and the response time, at low and high
speed. The entries in Table I are calculated according to
[I], assuming a count error of one pulse. The tachometer
data used for the example are the same as used in the
design example.
111. THE CONSTANT ELAPSED TIME(CET) METHOD
The CET method is a combination of encoder pulse
counting clock pulses of the clock pulse period T,. The
measured time interval is selected such that it is larger
than or equal to the desired CET T,,, and that it contains
an integer number of encoder pulses.
The basic counting process is shown in Fig. 2(a). The
pulse counter and the time counter are both started at a
rising edge of the encoder pulse. The counters are stopped

0018-9456/89/1200-1104$01.OO 0 1989 IEEE

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 BONERT: DIGITAL TACHOMETER WITH A MICROCONTROLLER 1105

starta I stop started. If the encoder pulse length exceeds the time T,,
rising edge I pulse counter I pulse counter

the speed signal is set to be zero. The speed at which the

measured signal is set zero can be called the “minimum
:(-------- T ________
>I I
measurable speed” nminwithin a given maximum re-
:<start end>; next rising edge sponse time. This minimum measurable speed is a prop-
const. time interval of encoder pulse
atop8 counting erty of all digital tachometers and is defined as

b) read Cpl disable read C disable nmin = 1/(Tmax + m ) . (4)

interrupt I P2 interrupt
IV. PRINCIPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SPEED
EVALUATION CIRCUIT
It g A . Acquisition of the Time Interval and Pulse Count
-t , _--” I read Ct
enable int. wt. enable int.
It is not necessary to repeatedly restart and stop the en-
Fig. 2 . Method of CET operation of counters.
coder pulse counter and the time counter when imple-
menting the CET method. Repetitive starting and stop-
TABLE I ping is rather disadvantageous in that it requires a
RELATIVE
ERROR
A n / n A N D RESPONSE
TIMEOF DIFFERENT
SPEED
EVALUATION METHODS reinitialization of the counters. This process takes time
and reduces the sample rate of the speed measurement
An In Pulse Counting Pulse Time Measuring CET system.
at 30 rpm 85.0 % 0.025 % 0.025 %
A better approach is to measure time intervals at a con-
at 3000 rpm 0.85 % 2.5 % 0.05 % tinuously running time counter and to read the incre-
response time mented pulse counter at the end of each time interval. Fig.
2(b) shows the timing diagram for this approach. At a
at 30 rpm 2.3 ms 1.95 ms 1.95 ms rising edge of the encoder pulse the time t l is registered
at 3000 rpm 2.3 ms 0.02 ms 1.02 ms
and the value Cpl of the encoder pulse counter is read.
After the minimum response time T,, has elapsed, the next
by the first rising edge of the encoder pulse occurring after rising encoder edge will register the time t2 and the value
the CET interval T,, . The content of the pulse counter is C of the pulse counter. The speed can then be deter-
f2
then C, which is the number of encoder pulses measured. mined using (3) with C, being the difference of the read-
The content of the time counter is C,, which is the number ings of the time counter at time t2 and time t , , and with
of time clocks measured. Cp being the difference between Cp2and Cpl.
The rotational speed can be calculated from the quo- As the clock period of the time counter is typically less
tient A 4 / A t . A 4 is the increment of the rotational angle than a microsecond, the reading of the time count has to
during the time interval A t , where be implemented by a hardware function. Several micro-
controllers provide such a hardware function in the form
A 4 = Cp * 2 * r/m (1) of a free running counter and capture registers. Capture
registers store the count in the free running counter at a
A t = C, T, (2) rising edge of a selected external signal. The encoder
and m is the number of encoder marks per turn. pulses are counted with a pulse accumulator. A pulse ac-
Using (1) and (2) the rotational speed n can be calcu- cumulator is a standard feature of many microcontrollers.
lated as follows: The basic concept to measure the time interval and to
count the encoder pulses can be described as follows.
n = C p / ( C t. m *(3)T,).
Upon recognizing a rising edge the capture register saves
Considering the measurement process, it is clear that the content of the time counter and generates an interrupt.
the measurement or response time A t changes in relation The interrupt service routine takes the reading of the en-
to the measured speed. The widest variation in response coder pulse counter and subsequently disables the capture
time is less than 1 : 2, as long as the duration of an encoder register function until the time T,, has elapsed. Thereafter
pulse period is less than the time T,, . the capture register function is enabled again in order to
At very low speed the duration of an encoder pulse in- respond to the next rising edge of the encoder pulse.
creases and exceeds finally the usual variation in response
time of 2 * T,, . Consequently, at this low speed the CET B. Limitation at High Speed
method is identical to the single pulse time measurement Reading the encoder pulse counter and disabling the
method 2). capture register function is done by software in an inter-
If the speed goes to zero the encoder pulse length and rupt service routine. The time available for the execution
the resulting response time go to infinity. As a practical of these tasks is the encoder pulse period. This comes
control system requires a response within a certain time, about as a result of the capture register function having to
a maximum response time Tmaxis defined, in which a ris- be disabled before the next rising edge occurs. This time
ing pulse edge has to occur after the counters have been constraint determines the maximum encoder pulse fre-

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 1106 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 38, NO. 6, DECEMBER 1989

quency, and therefore, the maximum speed which can be

processed. This limit will typically be higher than 90 kHz
for standard microcontrollers.
tZ It3
s t a r t or Tnax expired speed
C. Initialization Below Minimum Measurable Speed and stand still speed = 0 calculated

at Stand Still Fig. 3. Start up or acceleration from below minimum speed or stand still.

Below the speed nmina speed signal cannot be deter-

mined within the maximum response time T,,,. This par-
ticular case is illustrated in Fig. 3.
I START
set INIT FLG I
At operation below nminor at start up the tachometer capture function
circuit waits for a rising encoder pulse edge to initialize and interrupt
disabled
the counter values. The counters are initialized at the ris-
ing edge occurring at time to (Fig. 3). After initialization I I J I
set I
the time T,, elapses and the circuit waits for the next rising I

edge to read the counters. As no further edge occurs be- -

6
INIT FLAG ? set
L
fore T,,, expires, no speed can be determined and a new A SPEED
initialization of the counters is required. This new initial- P L
so
ization occurs at time t , . After the time T,, elapses, at time E O
D P
t 2 , the circuits waits again for a rising edge to read the
counters. This rising edge occurs at time t3 before Tmax T Tel ELAPSED
I
expires. Following this a speed signal can be calculated.

D. Calculation of the Speed Value

Speed can be calculated using (3). For accuracy rea-
I I ENABLE CAPTURE

sons, a 16-bit wordlength is used and the algorithm is ex-

interrupt service
ecuted in such a way as to minimize the truncation errors. routine
The necessary calculations can be quite readily completed interrupting WAIT LOOP
in real time during the time T,, , as the execution time for READ PULSE COUNTER 1
DISABLE CAPTURE
the calculations for a typical microcontroller is less than
half a millisecond. RESET WAIT FLAG

E. Program Structure
The program structure for evaluating the speed is shown
in Fig. 4. The program executes a wait loop. This loop
can be interrupted by a rising encoder pulse edge. If no
edge occurs within the maximum response time T,,,, the
speed value is set to zero and the INIT FLAG is set. The
INIT FLAG indicates that the next rising encoder pulse
edge will initialize the counters to start a speed measure-
ment interval.
The exit of the wait loop occurs subsequent to a rising
encoder pulse edge. On the occurrence of a rising edge
the content of the free running timer is stored by the cap-
ture register and an interrupt is generated. The interrupt
routine reads the pulse counter, disables the capture func-
tion, and further interrupts and resets the WAIT FLAG.
The WAIT FLAG facilitates the exit from the wait loop
to the elapsed time loop, as shown in Fig. 4.
The elapsed time loop starts the timing of T,, and T,,,
based on the last time counter reading. A speed value is
calculated, if the system was initialized. After the time
T,, elapsed, the loop is terminated and the capture register
function and the interrupt are again enabled.
The proposed program structure ensures that initial-
ization occurs without delay and is only required below
minimum measurable speed. The execution time of the
statements has no influence on the accuracy of the speed
Fig. 4. Principle structure of the tachometer program.
calculation. Software execution time effects only the max-
imum measurable speed as described.
The program will wait most of the time in the elapsed
time loop at point B shown in Fig. 4. This time can be
used for other tasks, for example, to communicate the
speed value to other processors, to do additional speed
related calculations, or to provide values for a display.
V . ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLE OF A TACHOMETER DESIGN
A tachometer utilizing an encoder with 1024 marks per
turn and a microcontroller type 6 8 H C l l was built. The
specification for the maximum response time and elapsed
time are 2.3 and 1 ms, respectively. The choice of the
maximum response time results in a measurable minimum
speed of 25.5 rpm.
The 2-MHz processor clock is used for time counting.
This provides a time increment T, of 0.5 ps. The mini-
mum time required to read the pulse counter was found to
be 12 ps, which limits the maximum measurable speed to
4883 rpm. The speed range of the tachometer is, there-
fore, 25.5-4883 rpm or 1 : 190.
The direction of the speed is determined by feeding a
quadrature pulse of the encoder to a strobed port of the

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 BONERT: DIGITAL TACHOMETER WITH A MICROCONTROLLER 1107

Fig. 5. Experimental Result: showing the measured speed as function of

time for a speed reversal from 800 to -800 rpm.

microcontroller. The speed output at the microcontroller

is in signed 12-bit code. This output signal is connected
to a bipolar D/A converter. Fig. 1 illustrates the connec-
tions between the components of the tachometer.
j
The error of the tachometer is determined by the error
in the measurement of the increment of the rotational an-
gle A + , the error in A t , and the calculation error. The
maximum relative error for A t based on one missing count
is 0.05 percent. It is determined by T,/T,, . The maximum
relative error in A+ caused by nonequidistant encoder I 1 25ms I
pulses was specified according to the information of the
manufacturer to be 0.07 percent. The calculation error due
c I ~I
to truncation is 0.003 percent. Summing up all these er-
rors results in a total maximum relative error of 0.123
,
percent, which is mainly caused by the encoder. - - - - - I d

The error for A t decreases to 0.02 percent and the speed Fig. 6 . Experimental results, detail A from Fig. 5.
range extends to 1 :406, from 12 to 4883 rpm, if the
elapsed time T,, is chosen to be 2.5 ms.

DETAIL B
A . Experimental Vuijication
The shaft encoder was mounted to a 5-hp dynamometer
which was coupled by a drive shaft to a 3-hp dc motor tI
with a rated speed of 1000 rpm.
To demonstrate the performance of the tachometer the
speed of the dc motor operating initially at approximately
25.6 rpm ' 1
J

800 rpm was suddenly reversed to - 800 rpm. The change

of the speed as a function of the time was observed with
0 rpm
-6.25 ms
a digital oscilloscope connected to the output of the D/A
converter and recorded on a digital plotter. The measured
results are shown in Figs. 5-7.

B. The Experimental Results

Fig. 5 shows the speed reversal from 800 to -800 rpm.
Zero speed is reached within 200 ms. The fast reversal
excites mechanical oscillations in the motor dynamometer
system at the beginning of the transient. To demonstrate
details of the tachometer performance Figs. 6 and 7 show
enlarged sections of Fig. 5 marked with A and B .
Fig. 7. Experimental results, detail B from Fig. 5.
The details of the oscillation as shown in Fig. 6 dem-
onstrate the high resolution of the digital tachometer. Fig.
7 illustrates the properties of the tachometer at low speed.
Moreover this figure verifies that the response time at very

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 1108 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION A N D MEASUREMENT. VOL. 3X. NO. 6. DECEMBER 1989
low speed increases to the maximum allowed response
time of 2 . 3 ms. The figure shows that the speed output
drops to zero as soon as the measurable minimum speed
of 25.5 rpm is reached.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The proposed concept for a digital tachometer provides
a meed measurement svstem with high accuracv and ex-
v
cellent dynamic perfomance. The concept only one
single chip low cost microcontroller and the CET method.
It is easy to achieve a speed range larger than 1 : 400
with a response tirne of less than 5 ms, and a relative
Of the ’peed Of less than 0.02 percent. With
this low error in speed evaluation the accuracy ofthe shaft
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encoder becomes the critical factor in determining the
overall achievable accuracy of the tachometer system.
The proposed circuit could in future be integrated to-
gether with the pulse shaping circuitry into the encoder
housing thus providing a compact tachometer unit. More-
over, if a D/A converter is also integrated, the unit would
emulate a dc tachometer.
REFERENCES
111 R. Bonert, “Digital tachometer with fast dynamic response imple-
mented by a microprocessor,” IEEE Trans. Ind. A p p l . , vol. IA-19,
pp. 1052-56, 1983,
[2] G. F. Pierce, “Frequency determining apparatus,” Canadian General
Electric Company, Canadian Patent 1144 986, 1983; U . S . Patent
4 420 809.
131 J . Duennwald, “Digitale Drehzahlerfassung elektrischer Antnebe mit
Mikrorechner,” Tech. Mes., Heft 3 , 1981.