Solved–Lab 7 { Timer/Counters –Solution

Description

SECTION OVERVIEW

Complete the following objectives:

• Learn how to con gure and use the 8-bit Timer/Counters on the ATmega128 to generate pulse-width modulation (PWM) signals.

• Use the upper half-byte and lower half-byte (otherwise known as the upper and lower nibbles) of an I/O port for two di erent tasks.

PRELAB

To complete this prelab, you may nd it useful to look at the full ATmega128 datasheet. If you consult any online sources to help answer the prelab questions, you must list them as references in your prelab.

1. List the correct sequence of AVR assembly instructions needed to store the contents of registers R25:R24 into Timer/Counter1’s 16-bit register, TCNT1. (You may assume that registers R25:R24 have already been ini-tialized to contain some 16-bit value.)

2. List the correct sequence of AVR assembly instructions needed to load the contents of Timer/Counter1’s 16-bit register, TCNT1, into registers R25:R24.

3. Suppose Timer/Counter0 (an 8-bit timer) has been con gured to operate in Normal mode, and with no prescaling (i.e., clkT0 = clkI=O = 16 MHz). The decimal value \128″ has just been written into Timer/Counter0’s 8-bit register, TCNT0. How long will it take for the TOV0 ag to become set? Give your answer as an amount of time, not as a number of cycles.

BACKGROUND

Timer/Counters are one of the most versatile and commonly-used components of a microcontroller, and have many uses in embedded applications. In basic terms, a Timer/Counter is simply a register whose contents are regularly incremented (or decremented) at a speci ed, con gurable frequency. If you know the rate at which this incrementing or decrementing is occurring, then you can compare the contents of a Timer/Counter’s register at two di erent points in a program, and calculate how much time has elapsed!

Together, the width (in bits) of a Timer/Counter and the frequency of the clock supplied to the Timer/Counter determine its range (the largest interval that can be measured) and resolution (the smallest interval that can be measured). The ATmega128 microcontroller features two 8-bit Timer/Counters and two 16-bit Timer/Counters, and they all have multiple clock frequencies available.

Beyond simply measuring an interval of time, Timer/Counters can also be con gured to take some action based on an observed interval, such as toggling an I/O pin after a certain amount of time has passed, generating a waveform. Depending on how the Timer/Counter is con gured, changing this interval will change either the duty cycle or the frequency of the waveform. When the duty cycle is varied, this technique is known as pulse-width modulation (PWM).

To successfully complete this lab, you will need to have a solid understanding of how to con gure Timer/Counters for PWM, and also how to modify the PWM duty cycle after initial con guration. For more details on how to make the AT-mega128 microcontroller create PWM signals, please refer to Timer/Counter0’s \Fast PWM Mode” subsection on pages 98-99 of the ATmega128 datasheet.

PROCEDURE

For this lab, you will write an assembly program that allows a user to modify the speed of the TekBot by providing input via Port D. The speed itself will be modi-ed by using both of the 8-bit Timer/Counters in Fast PWM mode, and driving the right and left Motor Enable port pins with the PWM signals generated by the Timer/Counters. By varying the duty cycle of the PWM waveforms being generated, you will e ectively be modifying the speed of the TekBot’s motors.

You are not required to implement any BumpBot behavior in this lab, so the TekBot should just be con gured to move forward inde nitely.

Some design decisions have been left up to you for this lab (such as how to detect user input on the Port D pushbuttons), but you must adhere to the following requirements for full credit:

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Lab 7 { Timer/Counters ECE 375

1. Your TekBot needs to have sixteen equidistant speed levels, with Speed Level 0 being completely stopped, Speed Level 15 being full speed, and Speed Levels 1 through 14 in between. Refer to Table 1 for more details.

Speed Level TekBot Speed

15 100% (255/255)
14 93.3% (238/255)
13 86.7% (221/255)
. .
. .
. .
2 13.3% (34/255)
1 6.7% (17/255)
0 0% (0/255)

Table 1: Equidistant Speed Levels

you can use \0000″ (all 4 LEDs o ) to represent Speed Level 0, and \1111″ (all 4 LEDs on) to represent Speed Level 15. This 4-bit indication of speed level must not interfere with the \Move Forward” motor control signals, which are also being output to Port B at the upper nibble (pins 7:4).

STUDY QUESTIONS / REPORT

A full lab write-up is required for this lab. When writing your report, be sure to include a summary that details what you did and why, and explains any problems you may have encountered. Your write-up and code must be submitted by the beginning of next week’s lab. Remember, NO LATE WORK IS ACCEPTED.

Study Questions

2. A user must be able to modify the speed in 4 di erent ways: (1) increase speed by one level, (2) decrease speed by one level, (3) immediately increase speed to the highest level (full speed), and (4) immediately decrease speed to the lowest level (stopped).

3. A single button press on Port D must result in a single action; for example, if the user presses the \decrease speed by one level” button, your program should smoothly decrease the speed by just one level, not several levels in rapid succession. Keep in mind, the correct way to meet this requirement can depend on some of your previous design choices, especially regarding how to detect user input.

4. The speed levels must not wrap around from 15 ! 0 or 0 ! 15. In other words, if the user requests a speed increase and the TekBot is already at full speed, the speed must not wrap around to a lower speed (i.e., over ow). In a similar fashion, the TekBot must not go from stopped to a higher speed (i.e., under ow) if a decrease is requested by the user.

5. In order to use both of the 8-bit Timer/Counters properly, you need to check Timer/Counter Control Registers(TCCR0 & TCCR2) with Waveform Generation Mode (WGM), Compare Output Mode (COM), and Clock Se-lection (CS). See 8-bit Timer/Counter Register Description and Alternate Functions of Port B in ATmega128 Datasheet (103p and 73p).

6. To allow the user to visually assess the current speed level of the TekBot, you must use the mega128 LEDs connected to the lower nibble (pins 3:0) of Port B to display a 4-bit indication of the current speed level. For example,

1. In this lab, you used the Fast PWM mode of both 8-bit Timer/Counters, which is only one of many possible ways to implement variable speed on a TekBot. Suppose instead that you used just one of the 8-bit Timer/Counters in Normal mode, and had it generate an interrupt for every over ow. In the over ow ISR, you manually toggled both Motor Enable pins of the TekBot, and wrote a new value into the Timer/Counter’s register. (If you used the correct sequence of values, you would be manually performing PWM.) Give a detailed assessment (in 1-2 paragraphs) of the advantages and disadvantages of this new approach, in comparison to the PWM approach used in this lab.

2. The previous question outlined a way of using a single 8-bit Timer/Counter in Normal mode to implement variable speed. How would you accom-plish the same task (variable TekBot speed) using one or both of the 8-bit Timer/Counters in CTC mode? Provide a rough-draft sketch of the Timer/Counter-related parts of your design, using either a ow chart or some pseudocode (but not actual assembly code).

CHALLENGE

To receive extra credit for this lab, you will need to implement a new feature that supplements your regular Lab 7 code. Use one of the 16-bit Timer/Counters to keep track of how many seconds have elapsed since the TekBot’s speed was last modi ed, and continually display this count as an 8-bit binary number on the LCD. Do not display any leading zeros { for example, 0 seconds should be displayed as just ‘0’, and 8 seconds should be displayed as ‘1000’.

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Lab 7 { Timer/Counters ECE 375

Note: Using the LCD will a ect the way the speed level is displayed on Port

B. This is expected; just make sure you are prepared to disable any LCD-related

parts of your code when you demonstrate the regular portion of this assignment.

For full extra credit, demonstrate the correct operation of this feature to your

TA, explain your design in the lab write-up, and be sure to also turn in your

challenge .asm le as part of the online submission process.

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