1052015 “Tora: Arcino Port Manipulation tronixstuff fun and learning with electronics ETN na Ua ee Home Tronixlabs Arduino Tutorials + KitReviews Categorized | arduino, education, lesson, microcontrollers, port manipulation, tronixstuff, tutorial Tutorial: Arduino Port Manipulation Posted on 22 October 2011. Tags: arduino, DDRB, DDRC, example, lesson, lessons, manipulation, PIND, port, PORTB, PORTC, PORTD, registers, tronixstuff, tutorial, tutorials Control Arduino /O pins faster and with less code in chapter forty-three of a series originally titled “Getting Started/Moving Forward with Arduino!” by John Boxall —a series of articles on the Arduino universe. [Updated 19/01/13] In this article we are going to revisit the I/O pins, and use what is called “Port Manipulation” to control them in a much faster manner than using digitalWrite()/digitalRead(). Why? Speed! Using this method allows for much faster I/O control, and we can control or read groups of /O pins simultaneously, not one at a time; Memory! Using this method reduces the amount of memory your sketch will use. Once again I will try and keep things as simple as possible. This article is written for Arduino boards that use the ATmegal68 or ATmega328 microcontrollers (used in Arduino Duemilanove/Uno, Ereetronies Eleven/EtherTen, etc). prone tut com 2011/1022"uera-erdkine-port- manipulation | 20ro192015 “Tutorial Arkin Port Manipulation First, we'll use the I/O as outputs. There are three port registers that we can alter to set the status of the digital and analogue I/O pins. A port register can be thought of as a special byte variable that we can change which is read by the microcontroller, therefore controlling the state of various I/O ports. We have three port registers to work with: + D~ for digital pins seven to zero (bank D) + B= for digital pins thirteen to eight (bank B) * C- for analogue pins five to zero (bank ... C!) Register C can control analogue pins seven to zero if using an Arduino with the TQEP style of ATmega328, such as the Nano or Freetronics EtherTen). For example: a - It is very simple to do so. In void setup(, we use 1 DDRy = Brooowex where y is the register type (B/C/D) and xxxxxxxx are eight bits that determine if a pin is to be an input or output, Use 0 for input, and 1 for output. The LSB (least-significant bit [the one on the right!]) is the lowest pin number for that register. Next, to control a bank of pins, use 1 PORTY = Bxxxxxxxx where y is the register type (B/C/D) and xxxxxxxx are eight status bits — 1 for HIGH, 0 for LOW. This is demonstrated in the following example: // Example 43.1 2 // tronixstuff.con/tutorials > chapter 43 3. // John Boxall - October 2011 4 // Digital 0-7 set to outputs, then on/off using port manipulation 6 void setupQ 7 8 DDRD = B11111111; // set PORTD (digital 7-2) to outputs 9 } 10 11 void Loop 2 13. PORTD = B11110000; // digital 4~7 HIGH, digital 3-0 LOW 14 delay(1000); 15 PORTD = 80001111; // digital 4-7 LON, digital 3-0 HIGH 16 — delay(100@); peas tu com 2011/1022tuera-erdine-port-manipustion | 220102015 “Tora: Arcino Port Manipulation wy It sets digital pins 7~0 to output in void setup(). Then it alternates turning on and off alternating halves of digital pins 0~7. At the start I mentioned that using port manipulation was a Jot faster than using regular Arduino /O functions. How fast? To test the speed of port manipulation vs. using digitalWrite(), we will use the following circuit: Arduino and analyse the output at digital pins zero and seven using a digital storage oscilloscope. Our first test sketch turns on and off digital pins 0~7 without any delay between PORTD commands — in other words, as fast as possible, The sketch: // Example 43.1.1 // tronixstuff.com/tutorials > chapter 43 // John Boxall - October 2011 // Digital @-7 set to outputs, then on/off using port manipulation void setup() £ DDRD = B11111111; // set PORTD (digital 7-0) to outputs 3 void Loop) { PORTD = 811111111; PORTD = 800000000; } In the image below, digital zero is channel one, and digital seven is channel three: prone tut com 2011/1022"uera-erdkine-port- manipulation | 201052015 “Tutorial: Arno Port Mariplation Dg ada MOTE Fi 2121 ret oon) Desemart rt rere S Wow —check the frequency measurements — 1.1432 MHz! Interesting to note the longer duration of time when the pins are low vs. high. [Update] Well it turns out that the extra time in LOW includes the time for the Arduino to go back to the top of void loop(). This can be demonstrated in the following sketch. We turn the pins on and off five times instead of once: // Example 43.1.2 2 // tronixstuff.com/tutorials > chapter 43 3 // John Boxall - October 2011 void setup) { DDRD = B11111111; // set PORTD (digital 7-0) to outputs 8} 10 void Loop) nf 12 pORTD = 811111111; 13 PORTD = 800000000; 14 PORTD = 811111111; 15 PORTD = 800000000; 16 PORTD = 811111111; 1? PORTD = 800000000; 18 PORTD = 811111111; 19 PORTD = 800000000; 9 PORTD = 811111111; PORTD ~ 80000000; 2} And the results from the MSO. You can see the duty cycle is much closer to 50% until the end of the sketch, at which point around 660 nanoseconds is the time used between the end of the last LOW period and the start of the next HIGH: prone tut com 2011/1022"uera-erdkine-port- manipulation | 4201052015 “Tutorial: Ardino Port Marvpltion rere) oo) ee Next we do it the normal way, using this sketch 77 Example 43.2 2 // tronixstuff.con/tutorials > chapter 43 3. // John Boxall - October 2011 // Digital 07 set to outputs, then on/off using digitalWritec) 6 void setupC) i tor Girt a0; a<8; a++) o | pinModeCa, OUTPUT); By? B 14 void loop © sor Cint 4-0; a chapter 43 3. // John Boxall - October 2011 4 // Digital 0-7 set to outputs, then on/off using individual digitalWriteC) 6 void setupc) t 8 for Cint a-@; a<8; a+) 9 10 pinModeCa, OUTPUT); 1} 12 } 14 void Loop) { 16 — digitalWrite(o, HIGH); digitalWrite(1, HIGH); 18 digitalWrite(2, HIGH); 19 digitalWrite(3, HIGH); digitalWritec4, HIGH); digitalWrite(s, HIGH); digitalWritecé, HIGH); digitalWrite(7, HIGH; 24 —digitalWriteCo, Low); 5 digitalWritec1, Lon); 6 digitalWrite(2, Lon); digitalWriteC3, LON); 8 digitalWriteC4, Lon); 2 digitalWrite(s, LON); 30 digitalWrite(6, LOW); 31 digitalWrite(7, LOW); and the results: prone tut com 2011/1022"uera-erdkine-port- manipulation | 201052015 “Tutorial: Arno Port Mariplation MEO Fe 21 211523. rey oral ee coc Perera rt ‘A small speed boost, the frequency has increased to 14,983 kHz. Hopefully you can now understand the benefits of using port manipulation, However there are a few things to take note of: * You can’t control digital pins 0 and 1 (in bank D) and use the serial monitor/port. For example if you set pin zero to output, it can’t receive datal + Always document your sketch — take pity on others who may need to review it later on and become puzzled about wehich bits are controlling or reading what! ‘Now to waste some electron flows by blinking LEDs. Using the circuit described earlier, the following sketch will create various effects for someone’s enjoyment. Arduino 2 // tronixstutt.con/tutorials > chapter 43 // John Boxall - October 2011 // Fun with & LEDs on digital 7-0 void setup() 7 8 DDRD = B11111111; // set PORTD (digital 7-0) 9 // to output 10 } ces 12 byte a = B11111111; 13 byte b = Bo0000001; 14 byte c = 810000000; 15 byte e = B10101010; 16 1? void krider 18 ft 19 for Cint k=O; ke5; k++) ef for Cint 2-0; z> z; 30 delay(10e); 31 + 32} 33 3 34 35 void ondFFC 36 37 for Cint kaO; kel0; k++) 38 39 PORTD = a; 40 deLay(100) ; 41 PORTD = @) 42 deLay100); 3} 44} 45 46 void invalinkO a7 48 for Cint 2-0; z<10; z++) 4 50 PORTD = e; Si delay(10@); 52 PORTD = ~e; 53 _ delay(100); 54} 5S } 56 57 void binaryCount() 58 { 59 for Cint 2-0; 2<256; 2+) 60 { 61 PORTD = z; 62 deLay(100); 63 } 64 PORTD=0; 65 } 66 67 void Loop) 68 ft 69 invBLinkQ; 70 deLay(500); 7. binaryCount(); 72 deLay(500); 73 kriderO3 74 deLay(500); 75 ondFFO; 76 } And here it is in real life: hpstronestutcom2011/1022%ueral-ardine-port- manipulation |1052015 “Tora: Arcino Port Manipulation Example 43.4 Now to use the 1/0 pins as inputs. Again, it is very simple to do so. In void setup(), we use 1 DDRy = Bxxxxxxxx where y is the register type (B/C/D) and xxxxxxxx are eight bits that determine if a pin is to be an input or output. Use 0 for input. The LSB (least-significant bit [the one on the right!]) is the lowest pin number for that register. Next, to read the status of the pins we simply read the byte: 1 PINy where y is the register type (B/C/D). So if you were using port B as inputs, and digital pins 8~10 were high, and 11~13 were low, PINB would be equal to BO000011. Really, that’s it! ‘Now for another demonstration using both inputs and outputs. We will use a push-wheel switch from Chapter 40 on our inputs (digital pins 8~11), and a seven segment LED display for output (on digtal pins 7-0 ~ segments dp then a~f). The following sketch reads the input from the switch, which returns 0~9 in binary-coded decimal. This value is then used in the function void disp() to retrieve the matching byte from the array “segments”, which contains the appropriate outputs to drive the seven segment LED display unit, Here is the sketch: // Example 43.5 // tronixstuff.com/tutorials > chapter 43 7/ John Boxall - October 2011 4 // inputs and outputs 6 byte segmentst] = 7 BO1111110, 80110000, B@1101101, BO1111001, 84110011, BO1011011, 801011111, Be1110000, 8 // digital pins 7~@ connected to display pins dp,a~g 9 void setupQ) of 11 DDRB = BO@000000; // set PORTB (digital 13~8) to inputs 12 DDRD = B11111111; // set PORTD (digital 7~®) to outputs 13) 14 15 void dispCint z) peas tu com 2011/1022tuera-erdine-port-manipustion | 920s0s20:5 “Tutorial: Arun Port Mariplaton 16 { 17 PORTD = segnents[z]; 18 } 19 20 void Loop() a. { 22 disp(PINB); 23 deLay(100); 24} And the ubiquitous demonstration video Example 43.5 By now I hope you have an understanding of using port manipulation for your benefit. With a little effort your sketches can be more efficient in terms of speed and memory space, and also allow nifiy simultaneous reading of input pins. Have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, Google+, subscribe for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group — dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up — it’s free, helpful to each other — and we can all learn something Bio Latest Posts John Boxall Founder, owner and managing editor of tronixstuff.com. pstronestutcom2011/1022%ueral-arduine-port- manipulation | 10201082015 “Tora: Arcino Port Manipulation Please shure with others: = 6 S Like this: ke Like Bo the frst to Ike this October 2011 Competition Review ~ Agilent Infi ion M: 3024A Mixed Signal Oscilloscope — 15 Responses to “Tutorial: Arduino Port Manipulation” les 1 Fritz Charleston (@fritzcharleston) says: October 22, 2011 at 4:45 pm Ifyou fine people can wrap your heads around this, then congratulations, your 100% closer to standalone AVR development! Be wary of using PC6, this also controls the " Also, here is wrong with i Binary | Hex 0000/0 0001 |1 0010 |2 0011 [3 0100 |4 o101|5 0110 [6 Ol |7 1000 |8 1001 |9 1010 1011 |B 1100|C 1101 |D peas tut com 2011/1022"uera-erdine-port- manipulation | set button.” It can be used, you take note. me haxadecimal shorthand to take care of stuff like “00000011.” (Not that anything just a preference thing.) W209