AN942

Piecewise Linear Interpolation on PIC12/14/16 Series

Microcontrollers
EQUATION 1: STEINHART-HART
Author: John Day and Steven Bible
Microchip Technology Inc. 1
= A + B(1n R) + (1n R)3
TK

Solving for temperature in degrees Celsius:

INTRODUCTION
1
The embedded systems world is filled with sensing and TDegrees C = – 273.15
3
measurement techniques that present non-linear A + B(1n R) + C(1n R)
output results. If the sensing technique is well charac-
Legend:
terized, a mathematical transfer function can be used
to correct and linearize the sensor output. In many A, B, C = Constants determined through a calibration
cases, these functions contain complex polynomial and process
exponential functions, placing a great burden on the R = The thermistor’s resistance in ohms
program memory, RAM and execution speed of most TK = The temperature in Kelvins
low-cost microcontrollers.
This application note will explore a simple Piecewise FIGURE 1: TEMPERATURE VS.
Linear Interpolation technique that is often employed to
RESISTANCE
linearize a sensor's output. This technique has many
advantages in faster execution speed using a simple 350
look-up table and significantly reduced program
300
memory and RAM requirements. However, this
Resistance (KOhms)

technique can introduce a considerable error compo- 250

nent with certain transfer functions. Therefore, the
design engineer needs to understand the benefits and 200
limitations of this technique, which will be explained in
150
this application note.
100
SENSING SYSTEM INPUT 50
Sensors sense real-world quantities such as tempera- 0
ture, pressure, humidity, etc. The sensors present the -40 -25 -10 5 20 35 50 65 80 95 110 125
phenomenon they are sensing as a voltage, current or Temperature (Degrees C)
capacitance. It is the embedded system's job to convert
the sensor output into a digital value. For example, a The Steinhart-Hart equation involves 1 cube, 1 divide,
voltage measurement is converted to a number by the 2 multiples, 2 additions, 1 subtraction and 2 logarithm
microcontroller's Analog-to-Digital (A/D) Converter math functions. This could take several thousand
module, or time can be measured by the Capture/ instruction cycles to perform each temperature mea-
Compare/PWM (CCP) module. Once the measure- surement since most low-cost, 8-bit microcontrollers do
ment is obtained and filtered (as needed), a transfer not have divide, cube and logarithm instructions. A
function is applied before it is presented. large amount of program memory words would also be
consumed by this formula.
Thermistors are a classic example of a sensor with a
non-linear resistance with respect to the temperature The transfer function for certain sensors may vary due
measured. The industry accepted transfer function for to manufacturing tolerances in the sensor, packaging
a thermistor follows the Steinhart-Hart equation, as or other environmental factors. A Piecewise Linear
shown in Equation 1. Graphically, temperature vs. Interpolation technique eliminates the need for
complex math and enables the programming of a
resistance is plotted in Figure 1.
unique customized transfer function for each sensor to
compensate for manufacturing tolerances.

 2004 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00942A-page 1

AN942
WHY USE PIECEWISE LINEAR HOW DOES PIECEWISE LINEAR
INTERPOLATION? INTERPOLATION WORK?
Piecewise Linear Interpolation (PwLI) is the technique Start with a function where an output is defined by an
of finding the value of a function at an unknown input, as shown in Figure 2. The input can come from
intermediate point given two data points. This value is any source, for example, a reading from an Analog-to-
calculated using a straight line between the closest two Digital Controller (ADC), Timer, Capture register, or the
known data points. output of a computation.
The advantages of PwLI: In Figure 3, two points on the function are chosen:
1. Fast execution speed (<137 instruction cycle). (X1, Y1) and (X2, Y2). A line bisects the two points.
2. Minimum program memory requirements (<248
words of program memory space including PwLI FIGURE 2: NON-LINEAR FUNCTION
segment look-up table). Y
3. Optimized look-up table size (130 bytes of data
for a 64 segment table).
4. No need to characterize transfer function or
coefficients.
5. Transfer function can easily be tailored during
manufacturing to compensate for component Ouput
tolerances.
The Disadvantages of PwLI:
1. Considerable output error can be introduced if
an insufficient number of segments are used.
2. Transfer function with inflection points which do
not land on a segment boundary may reduce the
inflection point effect. X
Input

FIGURE 3: FUNCTION IS DIVIDED INTO SEGMENTS

Y

65,535

PwLI_Ouput X2, Y2

X, Y X, Y
b
X1, Y1
a

0
X
0 1023
PwLI_Input
Segment_EP[x] Segment_EP[x+1]

Segment

DS00942A-page 2  2004 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN942
To make the best utilization of the PICmicro ® devices FIGURE 5: CALCULATING
10-bit A/D, the input (X-axis) is divided into 64 INTERMEDIATE POINT
segments and spans 10 bits (the output of a 10-bit WITHIN THE SEGMENT
ADC). The segments are further divided into 16 sub-
segments. X2, Y2

FIGURE 4: THE 10-BIT ADC OUTPUT IS

X, Y
DIVIDED INTO SEGMENT PwLI_Slope
AND SPAN VALUES
X1, Y1 PwLI_Offset

PwLI_Input+1 PwLI_Input
0 15

15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Span

Segment_EP[PwLI_Index]
Zeros PwLI_Input+1 Span
(not used)
Segment_EP[PwLI_Index+1]

In Figure 4, the 10-bit input value contained in

PwLI_Input+1:PwLI_Input is divided into a 6-bit
segment called PwLI_Index and a 4-bit value called USING THE PIECEWISE LINEAR
span. In Figure 5, the PwLI_Index value is used to INTERPOLATION ROUTINE
reference a specific segment within a look-up table and
retrieve the segment endpoint (PwLI_Segment_EP The accompanying file 00942.zip contains three files:
[x]) Y1 and Y2 (16-bit) values. An intermediate slope pwl_10_16.asm, pwl_10_16.inc and
value is calculated by subtracting Y1 and Y2. Next, the pwl_lookup_calculation.xls. The user must first
intermediate slope is multiplied by the 4-bit span value calculate each segment endpoint and populate the
and then divided by 16. The result is Y within the Segment_EP0 through Segment_EP64 values in
segment. Finally, Y is added to Y1 to complete the pwl_10_16.inc with the desired output results. The
interpolation. pwl_lookup_calculation.xls spreadsheet can aid in
automatically generating the endpoint values and
source code. Place your formula or desired output
values into the PwLI_Output column. The
Segment_EP0 though Segment_EP64 endpoint data
are automatically calculated as shown in Table 1.
Finally, cut and paste the right most column into the
pwl_10_16.inc file.

TABLE 1: EXAMPLE OUTPUT FROM pwl_lookup_calculation.xls

Look-up Table data to be placed into
Endpoint PwLI Input PwLI Output
pwl_10_16.inc file date:
0 0 0 Segment_EP0 equ 0x0000
1 16 1024 Segment_EP1 equ 0x0400
2 32 2048 Segment_EP2 equ 0x0800
3 48 3072 Segment_EP3 equ 0x0C00

62 992 63488 Segment_EP62 equ 0xF800

63 1008 64512 Segment_EP63 equ 0xFC00
64 1024 65536 Segment_EP64 equ 0xFFFF

 2004 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00942A-page 3

AN942
The PwLI algorithm is utilized by first loading the
PwLI_Input variable with the 10-bit sensor output
value and calling the PwLI subroutine. The
PwLI_Output variable will contain the 16-bit result
when PwLI returns. The PwLI algorithm performs the
following high-level calculations:
• Span = PwLI_Input AND 0x0F
• PwLI_Index = PwLI_Input/16
• PwLI_Slope = Segment_EP[PwLI_Index+1] – Segment_EP[PwLI_Index]
• PwLI_Offset = (PwLI_Slope * Span)/16
• PwLI_Output = Segment_EP[PwLI_Index] + PwLI_Offset

TABLE 2: PwLI VARIABLES

Variable Size Function
PwLI_Input 10-bit PwLI input variable
PwLI_Output 16-bit PwLI output variable
PwLI_Index 16-bit Segment number, calculated as PwLI_Input divided by 16
PwLI_Slope 24-bit Slope of segment, calculated by subtracting the segment
endpoints
PwLI_Offset 24-bit Result of PwLI_Slope times Span, later divided by 16

PwLI ALGORITHM PERFORMANCE

AND MEMORY USAGE
A total of 248 words of program memory are used as
follows:
• 130 words for storing (65) 16-bit segment
endpoints
• 1 word for the endpoint look-up table “addwf
PCL” instruction
• 2 words for PCLATH initialization
• 1 word to call PwLI code
• 114 words for PwLI algorithm
The execution time varies with the PwLI_Input value
from 101 (minimum) to 137 (maximum) instruction
cycles, including the PwLI function call and return
overhead.

DS00942A-page 4  2004 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN942
EXPANDING THE PwLI INPUT
RESOLUTION
While this example uses a 10-bit input to generate a
16-bit output, the input resolution could be altered to
accommodate 12, 14-bit or higher resolution input
signal sources. The changes would be as follows:

10-bit Input 12-bit Input 14-bit Input

Span = PwLI_Input AND 0x0F PwLI_Input AND 0x3F PwLI_Input AND 0xFF
PwLI_Index = PwLI_Input/16 PwLI_Input/64 PwLI_Input/256
PwLI_Offset = (PwLI_Slope * Span)/16 (PwLI_Slope * Span)/64 (PwLI_Slope * Span)/256
The PwLI_Output and PwLI_Slope calculations would remain the same for all input resolution options:
• PwLI_Ouput = Segment_EP[PwLI_Index] + PwLI_Offset
• PwLI_Slope = Segment_EP[PwLI_Index+1] – Segment_EP[PwLI_Index]

SUMMARY
Piecewise Linear Interpolation is a great solution for
sensor linearization due to its fast execution speed,
reduced program memory requirements and ease of
implementation. This technique can be expanded or
simplified to include more or less segments, or provide
more or less input resolution.

 2004 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00942A-page 5

AN942
NOTES:

DS00942A-page 6  2004 Microchip Technology Inc.

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 2004 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00942A-page 7

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DS00942A-page 8  2004 Microchip Technology Inc.