Ch.

9 Timer Programming
 OUTLINE

• Programming 8051 Timers

• Counter programming

• Timer programming in C
 TIMERS

 Timers
- 8051 has 2 built-in timers: timer 0 and timer 1
- They can be used to generate a specific time delay
(more accurate and easier than loops)
- Or, can be used as counters to count events happening outside the uC.
- Both timers are 16 bits wide.
• Timer registers
- The contents of each timer is stored in two 8-bit registers
- Timer 0: TH0 (higher byte), TL0 (lower byte)
- Timer 1: TH1 (higher byte), TL1 (lower byte)
Ex.
MOV TL0, #4FH
MOV R5, TH1
 TIMERS: MODE

 TMOD (timer mode) register

– TMOD: 8-bit register, used to set the operation modes of timer

- higher nibble: timer 1; lower nibble: timer 0

– M1, M0: the combination of the two bits specify the operation modes of the timer
• (M1,M0)= 00: mode 0; 01: mode 1; 10: mode 2; 11: mode 3.
– C/T (counter/timer)
• Whether the timer will be used as a delay generator (timer) or event counter
• C/T = 0: used as timer for time delay generation
• C/T = 1: event counter
– Gate
• Gate = 0: the timer is started or stopped by software
• Gate = 1: the timer is started or stopped by external hardware
 TIMERS: CLOCK SOURCE

 Clock source for timer

– Every timer needs a clock pulse to tick.
– When C/T = 0 (timer)
• The timer use XTAL oscillator as clock source
• The frequency of the timer is XTAL frequency /12
Ex:
– Find the timer’s clock frequency is the XTAL frequency is 11.0592MHz
f =11.0592MHz/12 = 921.6 KHz
T = 1/f = 1/921.6KHz = 1.085 uS
 TIMERS: MODE 1
 16-bit timer: all 16 bits of timer are used.
 Operation Scenario
1. Load TMOD value (set the operation mode of timer)
Ex. MOV TMOD, #01H; timer 0, C/T=0, GATE=0, mode = 1
2. Load TL and TH with initial count values
Ex. MOV TL0, #0F2H ; load init value to timer 0
MOV TH0, #0FFH; init value: FFF2
3. Start timer
– SETB TR0 ; start timer 0
; TR0(timer start 0): when set to 1, timer 0 will start
– Once timer is started, values in (TH0, TL0) will automatically increase by 1
for every timer tick (every 1.085us if 11.0592 MHz XTAL)
so, when (TH0, TL0) = FFFFH, it will overflow in the next clock period
- FFFFH  0000H, overflow
- When overflow, TF0 (timer flag for timer 0) will automatically set to 1.
- By monitoring TF0, we will know when timer expires
 TIMERS: MODE 1

4. Monitoring timer flag

– HERE: JNB TF0, HERE ; exit loop when TF0 = 1 (timer expires)
5. When timer overflows, stop timer
– CLR TR0 ; set TR0 = 0 will stop timer 0
– The duration of timer is determined by the initial value of timer
6. Clear timer flag for next round
– CLR TF0
– The duration of timer is determined by the initial value in timer and timer clock

Ex. before timer starts, (TH0)=FFH, (TL0)=F2H. XTAL = 11.0592MHz.

What is the duration of the timer (how long it takes for timer to overflow)?

(FFFFH – YYXXH + 1)*clock period (65535 – nnnn + 1)*clock period

 TIMERS: MODE 1

• Ex: Find the delay generated by timer 0 in the following code.

Do not include the overhead due to instructions

CLR P2.3
MOV TMOD, #01 ; 1. timer 0, mode 1 (16-bit)
HERE: MOV TL0, #3EH ; 2. load init value
MOV TH0, #0B8H
SETB P2.3 ; set P2.3 high
SETB TR0 ; 3. start timer
AGAIN: JNB TF0, AGAIN ; 4. monitor TF0 until timer overflows
CLR TR0 ; 5. stop timer
CLR TF0 ; 6. clear flag
CLR P2.3

– Find the maximum delay that can be incurred by a 16-bit timer

• To generate larger delay, use loops to repeat the timer (example 9-13)
 TIMERS: MODE 1
• Ex: Write a program generate a square waveform on P1.5.
The waveform has 50% duty cycle with period 1 ms.

MOV TMOD, #10 ; timer 1, mode 1

HERE: SETB P1.5
ACALL DELAY
CLR P1.5
ACALL DELAY
SJMP HERE
;-----------delay subroutine-------------------
DELAY:
MOV TL1, #YYH ; load initial value
MOV TH1, #XXH
SETB TR1 ; start timer
AGAIN: JNB TF1, AGAIN ; monitor flag
CLR TR1 ; stop timer
CLR TF1 ; clear flag
RET

Self study: Examples 9-5 ~ 9-13

 TIMER: MODE 0 AND MODE 2
 Mode 0: 13-bit timer
– The timer will set TF = 1 when it reaches 1FFFH
– MOV TMOD, #00H (mode 0)
– The remaining operation is the same as mode 1
 Mode 2: auto-reload 8-bit timer
– Timer range: 00H - FFH
– Operations (use timer 0 as example)
1. Set timer 0 to mode 2: MOV TMOD, #02H (timer 0, mode 2)
2. Load 8-bit init value to TH0: MOV TH0, #32H
3. 8051 automatically copies the init value to TL0
4. Start timer: SETB TR0
TL0 starts counting until it reaches FFH
5. Monitor TF0
When TL0 overflows from FFH to 00H, it sets TF = 1
6. When TL0 overflows to 00H and TF = 1,
the init value is automatically reloaded from TH0 to TL0.
7. Clear TF. The timer will continue to run (go back to step 5)
 TIMER: MODE 2
 Ex
– (1) Find the frequency of the square wave;
(2) the smallest frequency achievable in this program and the TH value to do that
MOV TMOD, #20H ; timer 1, mode 2
MOV TH1, #5 ; init value
SETB TR1 ; start timer
BACK: JNB TF1, BACK ; monitor TF1
CPL P1.0
CLR TF1 ; clear TF0
SJMP BACK ; repeat

– Find the delay of the following timer

MOV TMOD, #2H ; timer 0, mode 2
MOV TH0, #-150 ; TH0 = -150 = 6AH (2’s complement of -150)
AGAIN: SETB P1.3
ACALL DELAY
CLR P1.3
ACALL DELAY
SJMP AGAIN
DELAY: SETB TR0 ; start timer
BACK: JNB TF0, BACK ; monitor TF0
CLR TR0 ; stop timer (the init value has already been reloaded)
CLR TF0
RET
 OUTLINE

• Programming 8051 Timers

• Counter programming

• Timer programming in C
 COUNTER

 Counter (C/T=1)
– Counting the events happening outside of 8051.
– Counter v.s. timer
• If C/T=0: timer mode, The clock source is XTAL/12
The value of TH0, TL0 increases by 1 for each clock
• If C/T = 1: counter mode. The clock source is an outside pulse to be counted
The value of TH0, TL0 increases by 1 for each outside pulse
We can use the counter to count the # of pulses
The remaining operations are the same for counter and timer (ex. mode 0, 1, 2)
– Connection
• External pulses are connected through P3.4 (T0) or P3.5 (T1)
 COUNTER

Ex: Assume a 1 Hz frequency pulse is connected to input pin P3.5 (T1).

Use mode 2 of counter 1 to count the pulses and display results on P2
MOV TMOD, #01100000B ; counter 1, mode 2, C/T = 1
MOV TH1, #0 ; counting from 0
SETB P3.5 ; make T1 input mode
AGAIN: SETB TR1 ; start timer 1
BACK: MOV A, TL1 ; get copy of count from TL1 (mode 2!)
MOV P2, A ; send result to P2 (LCD)
JNB TF1, BACK ; keep doing it if TF=0 (no overflow)
CLR TR1 ; stop timer
CLR TF1 ; clear TF
SJMP AGAIN

Self study: example 9-19

 COUNTER: TCON AND TMOD

• TCON register
– 8-bit register
– TR0, TF0, TR1, TF1
• SETB TR0 is the same as SETB TCON.4
– IE1, IT1, IE0, IT0 are used by interrupt (will be discussed in Ch. 11)
• Gate bit of TMOD
– Gate = 0
• Start timer: SETB TR0; stop timer: CLR TR0
– Gate = 1
• The start and stop of timer is done externally through P3.2 for timer 0 or
P3.3 for timer 1 via a simple switch (e.g. stop watch)
 COUNTER:

• Ex: Design a simple stop watch that can count from 0 second to 59 seconds. Use a switch to control
the start and stop of the watch. When the value of the stop watch arrives at 60 sec, reset it to 0.
SW BIT P3.3
SETB SW ; input
MOV A, #0
MOV TMOD, #00001001 ; Gate = 1, C/T = 0, mode = 1 (16-bit counter)
START: ACALL DELAY1SEC
INC A
CJNE A, #60, DISPLAY
MOV A, #0 ; if A = 60, reset the display of the stop watch
DISPLAY: ACALL LCD
SJMP START
;--------- subroutine ----------------------------
DELAY1SEC: MOV R2, #200 ; 5 ms x 200 loops
AGAIN: MOV TH0, #0EEH
MOV TL0, #00H ; init = EE00, 5ms delay
HERE: JNB TF0, HERE
CLR TF0
DJNZ R2, AGAIN
RET
 OUTLINE

. Programming 8051 Timers

. Counter programming

. Timer programming in C
 PROGRAMMING IN C

• Ex: Write a program to toggle P1.5 every 250 ms. Use timer 0, mode 2 (8-bit auto reload)
#include <reg51.h>
void T0M2delay25us(void);
sbit mybit = P1^5;
void main(void) {
unsigned int x;
while(1){
mybit = ~mybit;
for (x = 0; x < 10000; x++)
T0M2delay25us();
}
}
void T0M2delay25us(void) {
TMOD = 0x02; // timer 0, mode 2
TH0 = -23; // count 23 times, then overflow. 23*1.085 = 25 us
TR0 = 1;
while (TF0 = = 0);
TR0 = 0;
TF0 =0;
}
 PROGRAMMING IN C

• Ex: Assume a 1 Hz external clock is being fed into pin T0 (P3.4). Write a C program for
counter T0 in mode 1 (16-bit) to display TH0 and TL0 on P2 and P1, respectively.

#include <reg51.h>
void main( ) {
T0 = 1; //(make T0 an input)
TMOD = 0x05; // 0000 0101 (C/T = 1, mode 1)
TL0 = 0;
TH0 = 0; //clear counters
while(1) {
do {
TR0=1; //start timer
P1 = TL0;
P2 = TH0;
}while(TF0 = = 0);
TR0 = 0; //stop timer
TF0 = 0; //clear TF
}
}