RTC Static Memory in Deep Sleep on ESP32 with ESP-IDF - c

I am using the 8KB of static RAM on the RTC inside the ESP32 to save a small amount of sensor data to reduce power consumption by transmitting less frequently. But I am having no luck with even the simple example code:
RTC_DATA_ATTR uint32_t testValue = 0;
{
ESP_LOGE(TAG, "testValue = %d", testValue++);
...
}
In the monitor, I can see the value as 0 first time round, but then it's anyone's guess.
E (109) app_main: testValue = 0
...
...
E (109) app_main: testValue = -175962388
EDIT
Also tried the attribute:
RTC_NOINIT_ATTR uint32_t testValue = 0;
What am I doing wrong?

I received an answer from other channels that I'd like to share on. The solution was to set:
esp_sleep_pd_config(ESP_PD_DOMAIN_RTC_SLOW_MEM, ESP_PD_OPTION_ON);
esp_sleep_pd_config(ESP_PD_DOMAIN_RTC_FAST_MEM, ESP_PD_OPTION_ON);
So the RTC memory regions are enabled. In my case, I had specifically disabled them in another area of the code (the deep sleep power management code). This solution doesn't significantly affect the deep sleep power consumption ~ 10 uA.

Related

Control a GPIO pin within 150ns of tolerance

My problem is that turning on and off my GPIO pin takes way too long, despite using good timekeeping functionality, including both ndelay from linux/delay.h and my own accurate_ndelay which (shown below) uses ktime_get_ns() from linux/ktime.h.
My kernel version is 4.19.38 with Armbian, running on an OrangePi Zero.
static inline void accurate_ndelay(uint16_t ns){
uint64_t s = ktime_get_ns();
uint64_t e = s + ns;
while(ktime_get_ns() < e);
}
static inline void unsafe_bit2812(struct WS2812* ws2812, uint8_t b){
if(b){
gpio_set_value(ws2812->pin, 1);
accurate_ndelay(ws2812->t0h);
gpio_set_value(ws2812->pin, 0);
accurate_ndelay(ws2812->t0l);
} else {
gpio_set_value(ws2812->pin, 1);
accurate_ndelay(ws2812->t1h);
gpio_set_value(ws2812->pin, 0);
accurate_ndelay(ws2812->t1l);
}
}
When I measure the real-world delay (as shown by my oscilloscope, not bad software). The delay is not the expected 350ns, but 920ns. Which for the WS2812 is 770ns too much!
That's some pretty tight timing. The OrangePi Zero run at 1.2 GHz, so 150 ns is 180 clock cycles. That doesn't give you time to do much.
The first thing to do is use ktime_get_ns() to just measure how long the gpio_set_value() call takes. Or remove the delay and measure it with the scope. You might know the answer already, if you delayed for 350ns and measured 920ns, then it takes about 600ns.
You're calling gpio_set_value(), which pulls in the safe, portable Linux gpio library. The maximum possible performance would be to write your own driver for the GPIO that goes right to the HW registers and sets the two states, with the delay, as a single action.
Even with a custom driver, you'll have delays introduced by the clock driving the gpio and the rise and fall times of the device.

Average from error prone measurement samples without buffering

I got a µC which measures temperature with of a sensor with an ADC. Due to various circumstances it can happen, that the reading is 0 (-30°C) or a impossible large Value (500-1500°C). I can't fix the reasons why these readings are so bad (time critical ISRs and sometimes a bad wiring) so I have to fix it with a clever piece of code.
I've come up with this (code gets called OVERSAMPLENR-times in a ISR):
#define OVERSAMPLENR 16 //read value 16 times
#define TEMP_VALID_CHANGE 0.15 //15% change in reading is possible
//float raw_tem_bed_value = <sum of all readings>;
//ADC = <AVR ADC reading macro>;
if(temp_count > 1) { //temp_count = amount of samples read, gets increased elsewhere
float avgRaw = raw_temp_bed_value / temp_count;
float diff = (avgRaw > ADC ? avgRaw - ADC : ADC - avgRaw) / (avgRaw == 0 ? 1 : avgRaw); //pulled out to shorten the line for SO
if (diff > TEMP_VALID_CHANGE * ((OVERSAMPLENR - temp_count) / OVERSAMPLENR)) //subsequent readings have a smaller tollerance
raw_temp_bed_value += avgRaw;
else
raw_temp_bed_value += ADC;
} else {
raw_temp_bed_value = ADC;
}
Where raw_temp_bed_value is a static global and gets read and processed later, when the ISR got fired 16 times.
As you can see, I check if the difference between the current average and the new reading is less then 15%. If so I accept the reading, if not, I reject it and add the current average instead.
But this breaks horribly if the first reading is something impossible.
One solution I though of is:
In the last line the raw_temp_bed_value is reset to the first ADC reading. It would be better to reset this to raw_temp_bed_value/OVERSAMPLENR. So I don't run in a "first reading error".
Do you have any better solutions? I though of some solutions featuring a moving average and use the average of the moving average but this would require additional arrays/RAM/cycles which we want to prevent.
I've often used something what I call rate of change to the sampling. Use a variable that represents how many samples it takes to reach a certain value, like 20. Then keep adding your sample difference to a variable divided by the rate of change. You can still use a threshold to filter out unlikely values.
float RateOfChange = 20;
float PreviousAdcValue = 0;
float filtered = FILTER_PRESET;
while(1)
{
//isr gets adc value here
filtered = filtered + ((AdcValue - PreviousAdcValue)/RateOfChange);
PreviousAdcValue = AdcValue;
sleep();
}
Please note that this isn't exactly like a low pass filter, it responds quicker and the last value added has the most significance. But it will not change much if a single value shoots out too much, depending on the rate of change.
You can also preset the filtered value to something sensible. This prevents wild startup behavior.
It takes up to RateOfChange samples to reach a stable value. You may want to make sure the filtered value isn't used before that by using a counter to count the number of samples taken for example. If the counter is lower than RateOfChange, skip processing temperature control.
For a more advanced (temperature) control routine, I highly recommend looking into PID control loops. These add a plethora of functionality to get a fast, stable response and keep something at a certain temperature efficiently and keep oscillations to a minimum. I've used the one used in the Marlin firmware in my own projects and works quite well.

C - Store global variables in flash?

As the title may suggest, I'm currently short on SRAM in my program and I can't find a way to reduce my global variables. Is it possible to bring global variables over to flash memory? Since these variables are frequently read and written, would it be bad for the nand flash because they have limited number of read/write cycle?
If the flash cannot handle this, would EEPROM be a good alternative?
EDIT:
Sorry for the ambiguity guys. I'm working with Atmel AVR ATmega32HVB which has:
2K bytes of SRAM,
1K bytes of EEPROM
32K bytes of FLASH
Compiler: AVR C/C++
Platform: IAR Embedded AVR
The global variables that I want to get rid of are:
uint32_t capacityInCCAccumulated[TOTAL_CELL];
and
int32_t AccumulatedCCADCvalue[TOTAL_CELL];
Code snippets:
int32_t AccumulatedCCADCvalue[TOTAL_CELL];
void CCGASG_AccumulateCCADCMeasurements(int32_t ccadcMeasurement, uint16_t slowRCperiod)
{
uint8_t cellIndex;
// Sampling period dependant on configuration of CCADC sampling..
int32_t temp = ccadcMeasurement * (int32_t)slowRCperiod;
bool polChange = false;
if(temp < 0) {
temp = -temp;
polChange = true;
}
// Add 0.5*divisor to get proper rounding
temp += (1<<(CCGASG_ACC_SCALING-1));
temp >>= CCGASG_ACC_SCALING;
if(polChange) {
temp = -temp;
}
for (cellIndex = 0; cellIndex < TOTAL_CELL; cellIndex++)
{
AccumulatedCCADCvalue[cellIndex] += temp;
}
// If it was a charge, update the charge cycle counter
if(ccadcMeasurement <= 0) {
// If it was a discharge, AccumulatedCADCvalue can be negative, and that
// is "impossible", so set it to zero
for (cellIndex = 0; cellIndex < TOTAL_CELL; cellIndex++)
{
if(AccumulatedCCADCvalue[cellIndex] < 0)
{
AccumulatedCCADCvalue[cellIndex] = 0;
}
}
}
}
And this
uint32_t capacityInCCAccumulated[TOTAL_CELL];
void BATTPARAM_InitSramParameters() {
uint8_t cellIndex;
// Active current threshold in ticks
battParams_sram.activeCurrentThresholdInTicks = (uint16_t) BATTCUR_mA2Ticks(battParams.activeCurrentThreshold);
for (cellIndex = 0; cellIndex < TOTAL_CELL; cellIndex++)
{
// Full charge capacity in CC accumulated
battParams_sram.capacityInCCAccumulated[cellIndex] = (uint32_t) CCGASG_mAh2Acc(battParams.fullChargeCapacity);
}
// Terminate discharge limit in CC accumulated
battParams_sram.terminateDischargeLimit = CCGASG_mAh2Acc(battParams.terminateDischargeLimit);
// Values for remaining capacity calibration
GASG_CalculateRemainingCapacityValues();
}
would it be bad for the nand flash because they have limited number of
read/write cycle?
Yes it's not a good idea to use flash for frequent modification of data.
Read only from flash does not reduce the life time of flash. Erasing and writing will reduce the flash lifetime.
Reading and writing from flash is substantially slower compared to conventional memory.
To write a byte whole block has to be erased and re written in flash.
Any kind of Flash is a bad idea to be used for frequently changing values:
limited number of erase/write cycles, see datasheet.
very slow erase/write (erase can be ~1s), see datasheet.
You need a special sequence to erase then write (no language support).
While erasing or writing accesses to Flash are blocked at best, some require not to access the Flash at all (undefined behaviour).
Flash cells cannot freely be written per-byte/word. Most have to be written per page (e.g. 64 bytes) and erased most times in much larger units (segments/blocks/sectors).
For NAND Flash, endurance is even more reduced compared to NOR Flash and the cells are less reliable (bits might flip occasionally or are defective), so you have to add error detection and correction. This is very likely a direction you should not go.
True EEPROM shares most issues, but they might be written byte/word-wise (internal erase).
Note that modern MCU-integrated "EEPROM" is most times also Flash. Some implementations just use slightly more reliable cells (about one decade more erase/write cycles than the program flash) and additional hardware allowing arbitrary byte/word write (automatic erase). But that is still not sufficient for frequent changes.
However, you first should verify if your application can tolerate the lengthly write/erase times. Can you accept a process blocking that long, or rewrite your program acordingly? If the answer is "no", you should even stop further investigation into that direction. Otherwise you should calculate the number of updates over the expected lifetime and compare to the information in the datasheet. There are also methods to reduce the number of erase cycles, but the leads too far.
If an external device (I2C/SPI) is an option, you could use a serial SRAM. Although the better (and likely cheaper) approach would be a larger MCU or think about a more efficient (i.e. less RAM, more code) way to store the data in SRAM.

Is it possible to modify hrtimer parameters from within a custom kernel module?

Is there a way to adjust an hrtimer's parameters (specifically I want to adjust min_delta_ns) from within a kernel module?
I'm writing a kernel module that has some outputs driven by an hrtimer. Here's a rough outline of the basic code:
#include <linux/hrtimer.h>
#include <linux/sched.h>
#define MAXRUNS 300000
#define PERIOD_IN_NS 100000
static struct hrtimer hr_timer;
static ktime_t ktime_period_ns;
static volatile int runcount = 0;
static int some_function(parameters) {
ktime_period_ns= ktime_set( 0, PERIOD_IN_NS );
hrtimer_init ( &hr_timer, CLOCK_MONOTONIC, HRTIMER_MODE_REL );
htimer.function = timer_callback;
hrtimer_start( &hr_timer, ktime_period_ns, HRTIMER_MODE_REL );
return 0;
}
static enum hrtimer_restart timer_callback(struct hrtimer *timer)
{
runcount++;
if (runcount < MAXRUNS) {
// do stuff
hrtimer_forward_now(&hr_timer, ktime_period_ns);
return HRTIMER_RESTART;
} else {
runcount = 0;
return HRTIMER_NORESTART;
}
}
When I run it with PERIOD_IN_NS of 100,000 or greater everything works great. However, if I drop that value to say, 50,000, the period of my clamps at around 90,000 (ish) and output becomes unpredictable.
I ran cat /proc/timer_list to get the details of my timers and here are the details what I believe is the relevant timer:
Tick Device: mode: 1
Per CPU device: 0
Clock Event Device: mxc_timer1
max_delta_ns: 1431655752223
min_delta_ns: 85000
mult: 6442451
shift: 31
mode: 3
next_event: 13571723000000 nsecs
set_next_event: v2_set_next_event
set_mode: mxc_set_mode
event_handler: hrtimer_interrupt
retries: 0
From what I've read about how hrtimer works, that min_delta_ns of 85000 means that I can't run interrupts with a period any smaller than 85,000 nanoseconds. I'd like to try to decrease that value to see if I can get my code to cycle any faster without detrimental effects to the system (I'm running this on Raspberry-Pi-like dev board called the HummingBoard).
It looks like this clock is being initially configured in my specific architecture's version of time.c (line 180), but I can't figure out how to access and modify the values outside of that context in my custom kernel module.
Is there a way to adjust the values of an hrtimer's parameters from within my kernel module?
The min_delta_ns value describes a property of the hardware device.
Even if you were able to change this value (which you cannot), the timer event would not actually arrive any faster.

Audio tone for Microcontroller p18f4520 using a for loop

I'm using C Programming to program an audio tone for the microcontroller P18F4520.
I am using a for loop and delays to do this. I have not learned any other ways to do so and moreover it is a must for me to use a for loop and delay to generate an audio tone for the target board. The port for the speaker is at RA4. This is what I have done so far.
#include <p18f4520.h>
#include <delays.h>
void tone (float, int);
void main()
{
ADCON1 = 0x0F;
TRISA = 0b11101111;
/*tone(38.17, 262); //C (1)
tone(34.01, 294); //D (2)
tone(30.3, 330); //E (3)
tone(28.57, 350); //F (4)
tone(25.51, 392); //G (5)
tone(24.04, 416); //G^(6)
tone(20.41, 490); //B (7)
tone(11.36, 880); //A (8)*/
tone(11.36, 880); //A (8)
}
void tone(float n, int cycles)
{
unsigned int i;
for(i=0; i<cycles; i++)
{
PORTAbits.RA4 = 0;
Delay10TCYx(n);
PORTAbits.RA4 = 1;
Delay10TCYx(n);
}
}
So as you can see what I have done is that I have created a tone function whereby n is for the delay and cycles is for the number of cycles in the for loop. I am not that sure whether my calculations are correct but so far it is what I have done and it does produce a tone. I'm just not sure whether it is really a A tone or G tone etc. How I calculate is that firstly I will find out the frequency tone for example A tone has a frequency of 440Hz. Then I will find the period for it whereby it will be 1/440Hz. Then for a duty cycle, I would like the tone to beep only for half of it which is 50% so I will divide the period by 2 which is (1/440Hz)/2 = 0.001136s or 1.136ms. Then I will calculate delay for 1 cycle for the microcontroller 4*(1/2MHz) which is 2µs. So this means that for 1 cycle it will delay for 2µs, the ratio would be 2µs:1cyc. So in order to get the number of cycles for 1.136ms it will be 1.136ms:1.136ms/2µs which is 568 cycles. Currently at this part I have asked around what should be in n where n is in Delay10TCYx(n). What I have gotten is that just multiply 10 for 11.36 and for a tone A it will be Delay10TCYx(11.36). As for the cycles I would like to delay for 1 second so 1/1.136ms which is 880. That's why in my method for tone A it is tone(11.36, 880). It generates a tone and I have found out the range of tones but I'm not really sure if they are really tones C D E F G G^ B A.
So my questions are
1. How do I really calculate the delay and frequency for tone A?
2. for the state of the for loop for the 'cycles' is the number cycles but from the answer that I will get from question 1, how many cycles should I use in order to vary the period of time for tone A? More number of cycles will be longer periods of tone A? If so, how do I find out how long?
3. When I use a function to play the tone, it somehow generates a different tone compared to when I used the for loop directly in the main method. Why is this so?
4. Lastly, if I want to stop the code, how do I do it? I've tried using a for loop but it doesn't work.
A simple explanation would be great as I am just a student working on a project to produce tones using a for loop and delays. I've searched else where whereby people use different stuff like WAV or things like that but I would just simply like to know how to use a for loop and delay for audio tones.
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
First, you need to understand the general approach to how you generate an interrupt at an arbitrary time interval. This lets you know you are able to have a specific action occur every x microseconds, [1-2].
There are already existing projects that play a specific tone (in Hz) on a PIC like what you are trying to do, [3-4].
Next, you'll want to take an alternate approach to generating the tone. In the case of your delay functions, you are effectively using up the CPU for nothing, when it could be done something else. You would be better off using timer interrupts directly so you're not "burning the CPU by idling".
Once you have this implemented, you just need to know the corresponding frequency for the note you are trying to generate, either by using a formula to generate a frequency from a specific musical note [5], or using a look-up table [6].
What is the procedure for PIC timer0 to generate a 1 ms or 1 sec interrupt?, Accessed 2014-07-05, <http://www.edaboard.com/thread52636.html>
Introduction to PIC18′s Timers – PIC Microcontroller Tutorial, Accessed 2014-07-05, <http://extremeelectronics.co.in/microchip-pic-tutorials/introduction-to-pic18s-timers-pic-microcontroller-tutorial/>
Generate Ring Tones on your PIC16F87x Microcontroller, Accessed 2014-07-05, <http://retired.beyondlogic.org/pic/ringtones.htm>http://retired.beyondlogic.org/pic/ringtones.htm
AN655 - D/A Conversion Using PWM and R-2R Ladders to Generate Sine and DTMF Waveforms, Accessed 2014-07-05, <http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1824&appnote=en011071>
Equations for the Frequency Table, Accessed 2014-07-05, <http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/NoteFreqCalcs.html>
Frequencies for equal-tempered scale, A4 = 440 Hz, Accessed 2014-07-05, <http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html>
How to compute the number of cycles for delays to get a tone of 440Hz ? I will assume that your clock speed is 1/2MHz or 500kHz, as written in your question.
1) A 500kHz clock speed corresponds to a tic every 2us. Since a cycle is 4 clock tics, a cycle lasts 8 us.
2) A frequency of 440Hz corresponds to a period of 2.27ms, or 2270us, or 283 cycles.
3) The delay is called twice per period, so the delays should be about 141 cycles for A.
About your tone function...As you compile your code, you must face some kind of warning, something like warning: (42) implicit conversion of float to integer... The prototype of the delay function is void Delay10TCYx(unsigned char); : it expects an unsigned char, not a float. You will not get any floating point precision. You may try something like :
void tone(unsigned char n, unsigned int cycles)
{
unsigned int i;
for(i=0; i<cycles; i++)
{
PORTAbits.RA4 = 0;
Delay1TCYx(n);
PORTAbits.RA4 = 1;
Delay1TCYx(n);
}
}
I changed for Delay1TCYx() for accuracy. Now, A 1 second A-tone would be tone(141,440). A 1 second 880Hz-tone would be tone(70,880).
There is always a while(1) is all examples about PIC...if you just need one beep at start, do something like :
void main()
{
ADCON1 = 0x0F;
TRISA = 0b11101111;
tone(141,440);
tone(70,880);
tone(141,440);
while(1){
}
}
Regarding the change of tone when embedded in a function, keep in mind that every operation takes at least one cycle. Calling a function may take a few cycles. Maybe declaring static inline void tone (unsigned char, int) would be a good thing...
However, as signaled by #Dogbert , using delays.h is a good start for beginners, but do not get used to it ! Microcontrollers have lots of features to avoid counting and to save some time for useful computations.
timers : think of it as an alarm clock. 18f4520 has 4 of them.
interruption : the PIC stops the current operation, performs the code specified for this interruption, erases the flag and comes back to its previous task. A timer can trigger an interruption.
PWM pulse wave modulation. 18f4520 has 2 of them. Basically, it generates your signal !

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