Meeting Timing Constraints

Certain tasks must be performed on time for correct operation

• Sampling audio/video
• anti-lock braking
• avionics
Wait for time (I.e. sampling) or events (I.e. ABS)
May require an understanding of the HW/SW specifics
• Clock frequency of microcontroller
• Understand the assembly code
• Understand the microcontroller architecture (I.e. pipelining)

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Busy-Wait Loops
Write a loop which just waits for fixed time, or for event
for (I=0; I<25000; I++);
while (!GODONE);
Wait loops waste processor resources
• Doing nothing useful while waiting
• This is not reasonable for complicated systems
Timing loops are sensitive to compiler and to HW parameters
• What if clock frequency is changed?
• What about compiler optimizations?

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Interrupts
An interrupt is an interesting event which can occur and needs to
be handled by a program
Interrupt service routine (ISR) is a function which is
automatically executed when an event occurs
• Timer expires, input set to 1, ADC completes, etc.
Main program can continue to execute until the event occurs
• No time is wasted waiting
Main program is not aware of the interrupt
• Interrupt is invoked by the HW, not the main program
• Programmer does not need to worry about triggering the
interrupt
Slides created by:
Professor Ian G. Harris
 Interrupt Sources
Interrupts can be triggered by many soruces

• External Interrupt - RA2 assigned to 1

• PORTChange Interrupt - A change on any PORTA pin
• Timer0 Overflow - Timer 0 expires
• A/D Converter - Conversion completes
• Comparators - Comparators return 1
• Oscillator fail - System oscillator no longer detected
• EEPROM - EEPROM write operation completes
• Timers 1 and 2 - Timers expire

Interrupts are grouped into primary and peripheral

Primary interrupt sources are External, PORTChange, and Timer0

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Interrupt Masks and Flags
Interrupts are often disabled so that uninteresting events can be
ignored
• Disable timer interrupt when the timer is not needed
• Disable external interrupt when RA2 is not used for interrupts
An interrupt is masked if it is disabled
Each interrupt source is associated with an enable bit and a flag
bit
Flag bit is set to 1 when the event occurs
Ex. When Timer0 overflows the Timer0 flag bit is automatically
set
Enable bit must be set by your code on order to have the interrupt
service routine (ISR) invoked when the interrupt event occurs
Ex. If Timer0 enable bit is set then ISR will start when Timer0
overflows

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Interrupt Registers
INTCON register contains enable bits and flag bits for the primary
interrupts
Bit Name Description
7 GIE Global Interrupt Enable
6 PEIE Peripheral Interrupt Enable
5 T0IE TMR0 Overflow Interrupt Enable
4 INTE RA2/INT External Interrupt Enable
3 RAIE PORTChange Interrupt Enable

Peripheral interrupts are controlled by other registers

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 More Interrupt Register Bits
INTCON register contains enable bits and flag bits for the primary
interrupts
Bit Name Description
2 T0IF TMR0 Overflow Interrupt Flag
1 INTF External Interrupt Flag
0 RAIF PORTChange Interrupt Flag

Interrupt flags must be cleared in software (your C code)

Flags are set when condition occurs, regardless of enable

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Using Interrupts in C

1. Decide which interrupts you want to enable (timer,

external, etc.)

2. Clear interrupt flags by setting flag bits in the

INTCON register

3. Enable the interrupts by setting appropriate bits in the

INTCON register

4. Write code for your interrupt service routine

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Interrupt Example

Problem: Make LED1 blink, but when a button is pressed light LED2
immediately

Vcc

RA0

RA1 LED1
RA2
PIC RA3
RA4 LED2

RA2 = 1 when button is pressed, 0 otherwise

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Code to Blink LED1

Some lines are omitted for simplicity (ANSEL, CMCON, #include)

int i;
main () {
TRISA = 0b000100; // RA2 is an input, all
// others are outputs
PORTA = 0; // All outputs are 0
while (1 == 1) {
for (i=0; i<25000; i++);
RA0 = RA0 ^ 1;
}
}

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
Additions to Enable Interrupts

Interrupt must occur when RA2 is set to 1

Use the RA2/INT External Interrupt

Add the following code in the main, before the while loop

INTCON = 0; // Disable all interrupts, clear flags

GIE = 1; // Enable interrupts
INTE = 1; // Enable RA2/INAT interrupt

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Interrupt Service Routine
ISR is function called when ANY interrupt occurs
ISR must check the interrupt flag bits to see which interrupt occurred
Takes no arguments, returns no values

void interrupt button_int(void) {

int j;
if (INTF && INTE) {
INTF = 0;
RA3 = 1;
for (j=0; j<25000; j++);
RA3 = 0;
}
return;
}

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Impact of Interrupts

Interrupts allow high priority tasks to be serviced quickly

Interrupts make timing difficult to guarantee
- Can happen at any time, in the middle of a program

for(i=0; i<25000; i++);

This code is usually ~half second delay

Interrupts can occur in the middle of loop, making it longer

Interrupts can interrupt interrupts

- Should disable interrupts at appropriate times

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Using a Timer (TMR0)
TMR0 can be used as an interrupt source
TMR0 is an 8-bit up counter
T0IF (INTCON bit 2) is set when TMR0 overflows (FF to 00)
Need to relate the clock to real time
System Clock - Clock used to drive all operations
• 4MHz is the default value
Instruction Clock - Clock used to drive the counter
• 1/4 the system clock frequency (1MHz)
• Instruction clock period = 1us

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Timer Control
Three ways to control timer behavior:

1. Prescaler value - the number of instruction clocks required to

increment the timer
Ex. Prescaler = 1, timer increments after 1us
Prescaler = 4, timer increments after 4us

2. Initialization - Timer value can be initialized in your code

Ex. TMR0 = 22;

3. Clock Source - The internal (4MHz) clock can be used, or an

external clock

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 OPTION Register

5 T0CS TMR0 clock source

4 T0SE TMR0 source edge select
3 PSA Prescalar assignment bit
2:0 PS2:PS0 Prescalar rate select bits

T0CS - 1: RA2 pin, 0: Internal instruction clock

T0SE - 1: falling edge, 0: rising edge
PSA - 1: Watchdog timer (not TMR0), 0: TMR0
PS2:PS0 - Prescalar = 2 (PS2:PS0) + 1
Ex. PS2:PS0 = 001, Prescalar = 4

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris
 Prescalar/Init. Examples
Example 1: Interrupt should be triggered after 30 us
Use internal clock - instruction clock period = 1us
Timer must overflow every 30 instruction clocks
Use no prescalar (PSA = 1;)
Initialize counter to 256 - 30 = 226 (TMR0 = 226;)
Example 2: Interrupt should be triggered after 1000us
Use internal clock with prescalar 4 in order to count to 1000
PSA = 0 (use prescalar) and PS2:PS0 = 011
Timer must overflow every 1000 instr. clocks, 250 with prescalar
Initialize counter to 256 - 250 = 6
Slides created by:
Professor Ian G. Harris
 Timer Code Example

Interrupt after 30 us

TMR0 = 226; // Initialize timer value

T0IF = 0; // Clear existing interrupt flag
T0IE = 1; // Enable timer0 interrupt
GIE = 1; // Enable interrupts
OPTION = 0b 0 1 0 0 1 000

T0CS = 0: Use internal clock Prescalar value

No prescalar

Slides created by:

Professor Ian G. Harris