freeRTOS doesn't work properly on atmega32A - c

Question

I am new to Free RTOS, and I was following some tutorial line by line but things didn't sum up correctly, I used free RTOS to toggle 3 LEDS but it lights just 2 of them without toggling! random 2 LEDs, whatever I change the priorities or the delay time of toggling. random 2 LEDs just switch on and nothing more, I tried the code on proteus simulation and on real hardware and the same problem exists. can someone help me with this?
M/C: ATMEGA32A
RTOS: FreeRTOS
#define F_CPU 1000000UL
#include <avr/io.h>
#include <util/delay.h>
/* FreeRTOS files. */
#include "FreeRTOS.h"
#include "task.h"
#include "croutine.h"
#include "FreeRTOSConfig.h"
/* Define all the tasks */
static void ledBlinkingtask1(void* pvParameters);
static void ledBlinkingtask2(void* pvParameters);
static void ledBlinkingtask3(void* pvParameters);
int main(void) {
/* Call FreeRTOS APIs to create tasks, all tasks has the same priority "1" with the
same stack size*/
xTaskCreate( ledBlinkingtask1,"LED1",
configMINIMAL_STACK_SIZE, NULL, 1, NULL );
xTaskCreate( ledBlinkingtask2,"LED2",
configMINIMAL_STACK_SIZE, NULL,1, NULL );
xTaskCreate( ledBlinkingtask3,"LED3",
configMINIMAL_STACK_SIZE, NULL,1, NULL );
// Start the RTOS kernel
vTaskStartScheduler();
/* Do nothing here and just run infinte loop */
while(1){};
return 0;
}
static void ledBlinkingtask1(void* pvParameters){
/* Define all variables related to ledBlinkingtask1*/
const uint8_t blinkDelay = 100 ;
/* make PB0 work as output*/
DDRB |= (1<<0); //PB0
/* Start the infinte task 1 loop */
while (1)
{
PORTB ^= (1<<0); //toggle PB0 //PB0
vTaskDelay(blinkDelay); //wait some time
}
}
static void ledBlinkingtask2(void* pvParameters){
/* Define all variables related to ledBlinkingtask2*/
const uint8_t blinkDelay = 100;
/* make PB1 work as output*/
DDRB |= (1<<1);//PB0
/* Start the infinte task 2 loop */
while (1)
{
PORTB ^= (1<<1); //toggle PB0 //PB0
vTaskDelay(blinkDelay); //wait some time
}
}
static void ledBlinkingtask3(void* pvParameters){
/* Define all variables related to ledBlinkingtask3*/
const uint16_t blinkDelay = 100;
/* make PB2 work as output*/
DDRB |= (1<<2); //PB2
/* Start the infinte task 3 loop */
while (1)
{
PORTB ^= (1<<2); //toggle PB0 //PB0
vTaskDelay(blinkDelay); //wait some time
}
}
ps: every task works well alone but not together!

Answer 1

As already mentioned in comments - the major problem seems to be that access to the port register driving the LEDs is neither
PORTB ^= (1<<0); // in task 1
[...]
PORTB ^= (1<<1); // in task 2
[...]
PORTB ^= (1<<2); // in task 3
atomic
protected (by disabling interrupts during access, or by RTOS measures such as a mutex)
deployed to one unique task:
It may be misleading that the access to HW register is performed using a single instruction in the C code every time.
Still, this doesn't help because the compiler generates several assembler instructions (e.g., load previous port value to register, modify that register value, write it back to the port). This way, one task can interrupt another between those assembler/CPU instructions and modify the intermediate value.
Several tasks writing back "their" register value to the port in turn can revert what other task(s) may have just written to the port, so you miss a blinky event (or several, if this happens systematically).
The solution is therefore to protect the assignments against each other.
In the same order as numbered above, this may mean either of the following:
Check if the hardware offers a "set value" or "reset value" register beside the main PORTB port register. If so, writing a single bit to that port would be an atomic way to have the LED toggle.
I'm sorry that I don't know the hardware interface of Atmega. Maybe, this isn't possible, and you have to go on directly to 2. and 3.
a. Disable interrupts before changing the port register, reenable it afterwards. This way, the task scheduler won't run during that period (= critical section) and nobody disturbs the task that accesses the hardware.
b. Use taskENTER_CRITICAL()/taskEXIT_CRITICAL()
c. Use a mutex or similar.
Create a fourth task which waits (blocking) at a mailbox/queue.
Whenever it receives a value from the mailbox, it processes it (e.g., by XOR-ing it to the port register).
The three existing tasks don't access the LED port register themselves, but instead send such a value (= request message) to the new task.
Assign a higher priority to the new task in order to get a smooth blinking pattern.
If option 1. is possible on your controller, it is fastest (but it requires certain features in the hardware platform...). Otherwise, I agree with the hint from #Richard, option 2.b. are fastest (2.a. is as fast, but not as clean because you break the layering of the FreeRTOS lib).
Option 2.c. may introduce a notable overhead, and option 3. is very clean but a complete overkill in your situation: If your question is really only about blinking LEDs, please leave the bulldozer inside the garage and choose option 2.