Interfacing to Analogue I/O with C

Ben Clifford

Welsh Centre for Printing and Coatings

Tuesday November 5, 2024

Presentation version of these notes.

Introduction

C is a high-level structured programming language which is often used for writing microcontroller applications. This lecture looks at how I/O operations are performed on analogue inputs.

Lecture topics

• Section 1: What are analogue signals?
• Section 2: ADC Architecture
• Section 3: The Atmel ATmega328 Analog-digital-converter
• Section 4: Analogue I/O Example program

Outline

In this lecture we will be looking at how we can read analogue signals into a microcontroller using an analogue to digital converter (ADC).

• We begin by introducing analogue signals and the fundamental principals of an ADC.
• We move on to look at the ADC contained on the Atmel ATmega328 microcontroller, focussing on the key registers and how to use them.
• We conclude with an example program for the Atmel ATmega328 microcontroller which reads the voltage from a potentiometer and turns on some LEDs based on the voltage.

What are analogue signals?

This image by Unknown Author CC-BY-SA-NC.

Analogue signals

Analogue signals are those that are both continuous in time and continuous in amplitude i.e. they are continuous signals.

In the real world, most measurable parameters are actually analogue. They include such signals as temperature, humidity, light, sound, etc.

An analogue sensor

An analogue sensor for measuring light intensity is shown in Figure 1 along with a calibration graph that would be typically supplied in the data sheet for such a sensor.

Figure 1: A photograph of a light sensor and its calibration data

Sampling and quantization

Since microcontrollers can only handle 0s and 1s (digital signals) we need a way of converting analogue signals to digital signals. This is done using an analogue-to-digital converter or ADC.

An ADC converts a continuous-time and continuous-amplitude analogue signal to a discrete-time and discrete-amplitude digital signal through the process called sampling and quantization illustrated in Figure 2.

Sampling and quantization of an analogue signal

Figure 2: Sampling and quantization of an analogue signal

ADC Principles

An analogue signal is continuous in time and amplitude and to convert it to a digital signal it is necessary to periodically sample the analogue signal. The rate at which the signal is sampled is referred to as the sampling rate.

Each time the signal is sampled the analogue value must be represented in one of several discrete bins (digital values). The number of discrete bins available is called the resolution.

Both the sampling rate and the conversion resolution need to be sufficiently high to create an accurate digital reconstruction of the analogue signal.

ADC Sampling Rate

The Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem implies that to get an accurate reproduction of the original signal, the sampling rate must be higher than twice the highest frequency of the signal. Lower than this and the reproduced signal will be distorted, and data lost.

Note

This will be covered in more detail in EG-247 Digital Signal Processing in year 2

Example

Consider the sine wave governed by the equation \(x(t) = sin(t)\). The period is \(2\pi\) (approx. 6.3 seconds) so the frequency is 0.16 Hz (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Analogue signal \(x(t) = \sin(t)\) - a sine wave.

Sampled sine wave

If we sample this at 0.5 Hz (once every 2 seconds), which is over 3 times the original frequency, we get the orange trace Figure 4. From this it would be enough to accurately recreate the blue trace.

Figure 4: Sine wave \(x(t) = \sin(t)\) sampled at 0.5 Hz.

ADC Resolution

As well as the sampling rate, the resolution of the converter is crucial to getting an accurate representation of the input signal. The resolution indicates the number of discrete values that can be used over the total range of analogue values.

A 2-bit ADC

As an example a 2-bit ADC has \(2^2 = 4\) quantization levels (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Illustration of the resolution of a 2 bit ADC

A 3-bit ADC has \(2^3 = 8\) quantization levels (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Illustration of the resolution of a 3 bit ADC

Resolution of a 3-bit ADC

To calculate the resolution of an ADC we use Equation 1¹.

\[ \mathrm{Digital\ Output} = \left\lfloor\frac{\left(2^N-1\right)\times\mathrm{Analogue\ Input\ Voltage}}{\mathrm{Reference\ Voltage}}\right\rfloor \qquad(1)\]

The graph in Figure 7 shows the values (bins) that are available for a three bit ADC.

Figure 7: The resolution of a 3 bit ADC

Examples

Example 1

Let’s say that we have a 10-bit ADC and the reference voltage is 5V.

If our input is 2.2V the the digital output will be:

\[\begin{align} \mathrm{Digital\ Ouput} &= \left\lfloor \frac{1023 \times 2.2}{5}\right\rfloor \\ &= \lfloor 450.12 \rfloor = 450_{10}\\ &= 10\ 1100\ 0010_2 \end{align}\]

Notice in the first example when the resolution is 10-bit the answer consists of 10 bits not 12 or 16.

Example 2

Let’s say that we have a 6-bit ADC and the reference voltage is 3.3.

If our input is 1V the the digital output will be:

\[\begin{align} \mathrm{Digital\ Ouput} &= \left\lfloor \frac{63 \times 1}{3.3}\right\rfloor \\ &= \lfloor 19.09 \rfloor = 19_{10}\\ &= 01\ 0011_2 \end{align}\]

Illustrating the sampling theorem

Violation of the sampling theorem

Consider the signal with frequency \(F_c = 1\)Hz, sampling frequency of \(F_s = 1\)Hz, and resolution = 3 bits. The sampled signal is illustrated in Figure 8. The Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem has clearly been violated and the original signal cannot be reconstructed from the sampled signal.

Figure 8: Violation of the sampling thereom: signal cannot be reconstructed from sampled signal

Sampling at twice the signal frequency

Consider the signal with frequency \(F_c = 1\)Hz, sampling frequency of \(F_s = 2\)Hz (the so-called Nyquist frequency), and resolution = 3 bits. The sampled signal is illustrated in Figure 9. The reconstructed signal is on the border of acceptable. In practice, we need to sample at a higher frequency than \(F_s = 2F_c\).

Figure 9: Signal sampled at the Nyquist frequency and 3-bit resolution. Signal is just about reconstructable from the sampled data.

Illustrating sampling and quantization

Sampling at five times the signal frequency

Consider the signal with frequency \(F_c = 1\)Hz, sampling frequency of \(F_s = 5\)Hz, and resolution = 3 bits. The sampled signal is illustrated in Figure 10. The reconstructed signal (in the bottom trace) is starting to look like a sine wave.

Figure 10: Signal sampled at the \(Fs = 5 F_c\) and 3-bit resolution.

Sampling at ten times the signal frequency

Consider the signal with frequency \(F_c = 1\)Hz, sampling frequency of \(F_s = 10\)Hz, and resolution = 3 bits. The sampled signal is illustrated in Figure 11. The reconstructed signal now starting to look like a sine wave. In general, the faster the sampling frequency compared to the frequency of the analogue signal, the better the approximation.

Figure 11: Signal sampled at the \(Fs = 10 F_c\) and 3-bit resolution.

ADC Architecture

Figure 12: The architecture of the ADC system in the Atmel ATmega328 Processor (source ATmega48A-PA-88A-PA-168A-PA-328-P-DS-DS40002061B, Page 247)

ADC Components

The architecture of the Atmel ATmega328 is shown in Figure 12. It contains the following major components:

• Multiplexer²
• Voltage Reference
• Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC)
• Sample and Hold Circuit
• Control and Result Registers

The most important components are described in more detail in the following sections.

Architectures

There are several achitectures for ADCs summarized as:

• Sigma-Delta (\(\Sigma-\Delta\))
• Successive Approximation Register (SAR)
• Pipelined
• Flash

Each has their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of price, conversion speed, noise and complexity as summarized in Figure 13.

ADC Architecture vs Resolution and Sample Rate

Figure 13: ADC Architecture vs Resolution and Sample Rate (Source calstate.edu)

Most general-purpose microcontrollers contain SAR-based architecture ADCs.

SAR based ADC Architecture

Successive-approximation-register (SAR) ADCs are the most common architecture for medium-to-high-resolution applications with sample rates under 5 megasamples per second.

The SAR converter is essentially a binary search algorithm which compares the input to the ADC with the output from a digital to analogue converter (DAC) until the input matches the DAC output and the device is able to output the corresponding binary value.

While the internal circuitry of the ADC may be running at several megahertz, the ADC sample rate is a fraction of that number due to the multiple step successive-approximation algorithm needed to convert the measured input to a binary number.

The SAR converter is at the heart of the ATmega328 microcontroller and is highlighted in Figure 14.

Figure 14: Schematic diagram of the Atmel ATMega328 ADC system with the SAR highlighted.

SAR based ADC Operation

Consider the schematic diagram shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15: Schematic diagram of the hardware used to achieve SAR conversion (image source: Analog Devices³).

SAR operation

• The analogue input signal is held by a track/hold circuit and fed as \(V_\mathrm{IN}\) into a comparator.
• To implement the binary search algorithm, the \(N\)-bit register is first set to mid-scale (that is the MSB is set to 1 and all other bits set to 0) so that the voltage at \(V_\mathrm{DAC} = V_\mathrm{REF}/2\).
• A comparison is then performed to determine if \(V_\mathrm{IN} \le V_\mathrm{DAC}\).
  • If \(V_\mathrm{IN} > V_\mathrm{DAC}\), the comparator output will be logic high (or 1), and the MSB of the \(N\)-bit register remains at 1.
  • If \(V_\mathrm{IN} < V_\mathrm{DAC}\), the comparator output is a logic low (0) and the MSB of the \(N\)-register is cleared to logic 0.
• The SAR control logic then moves to the next bit along⁴, forces that bit high, and repeats the comparison. The sequence continues all the way down to the LSB (bit 0).
• Once the input has been compared with the full \(N\)-bit register the conversion is complete and the \(N\)-bit digital word is sent to the ADC output register.

4-bit SAR based ADC Example

Figure 16: Example of the successive approximation method in action: a 4 bit ADC converting a signal for which \(V_\mathrm{IN}\) is in “bin” 5.

Consider Figure 16:

1. Bit 3 is set high (compare signal is \(1000_2\))
   • \(V_\mathrm{IN} < V_\mathrm{DAC}\) so the comparator output is low (0).
2. Bit 3 is set low and bit 2 is set high (compare signal is now \(0100_2\)).
   • \(V_\mathrm{IN} > V_\mathrm{DAC}\) so the comparator output is high (1).
3. Bit 2 remains high and now Bit 1 is set high too (compare signal is \(0110_2\)).
   • \(V_\mathrm{IN} < V_\mathrm{DAC}\) so the comparator output is low (0).
4. Bit 1 is set low and bit 0 is set high (compare signal is \(0101_2\))
   • \(V_\mathrm{IN} > V_\mathrm{DAC}\) so the comparator output is high (1).

The final output of the conversion is \(0101_2 = 5/16 V_\mathrm{REF} = 0.3125 V_\mathrm{REF}\).

The Atmel ATmega328 Analog-digital-converter

Image source: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

The Atmel ATMega328 ADC

The Atmel ATMega328 features a 10-bit successive approximation ADC.

The ADC is connected to an 8-channel Analog Multiplexer which allows eight single-ended voltage inputs (referenced to GND) constructed from the pins of Port C.

Technical specifications

The ADC provides:

• 10-bit Resolution
• 13 - 260μs Conversion Time
• Up to 76.9kSPS⁵ (Up to 15kSPS at Maximum Resolution)
• 9 Multiplexed Single Ended Input Channels

Hardware registers used

• ADMUX - ADC Multiplexer Selection Register.
• ADCSRA - ADC Status and Control Register A.
• ADCSRB - ADC Status and Control Register B.
• ADCL and ADCH - The ADC Output Registers.
• DIDR0 - Digital Input Disable Register 0.

These registers are described in the following sections.

ADMUX – ADC Multiplexer Selection

The ADMUX is an 8-bit register arranged as shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17: The ACD Multplexer Selection Register ADMUX (Source: Atmel Documentation).

Reference selection bits

Bits 7 and 6—REFS1 and REFS0—select the reference voltage for the ADC⁶.

The settings for the reference selection bits are tabulated in Table 1.

Table 1: The settings for the reference selection bits of the ADMUX register.

REFS1	REFS0	Voltage Reference Selection
0	0	AREF, Internal \(V_\mathrm{REF}\) turned off.
0	1	AVCC with external capacitor on AREF.
1	0	Reserved
1	1	Internal 1.1V reference with external capacitor at AREF pin.

Bit 5 – ADLAR: ADC Left Adjust Result

ADLAR bit (bit 5) affects the presentation of the ADC conversion result in the ADC Data Register.

We write 1 to ADLAR to left adjust the result.

Otherwise, the result is right adjusted.

We will revisit this in a couple of slides when we discuss the results registers.

Bits 3:0 – MUX[3:0]: Analog Channel Selection Bits

The value of these bits selects which analogue inputs are connected to the ADC (see Figure 18 and Table 2).

Figure 18: The pins on the Atmel ATmega328 that may be multiplexed to act as ADC inputs

Table 2: ADC multiplexer bit settings for the ADMUX register

MUX3:0	Input Selected
\(0000\)	ADC0
\(0001\)	ADC1
\(0010\)	ADC2
\(0011\)	ADC3
\(0100\)	ADC4
\(0101\)	ADC5
\(0110\)	ADC6 - Not used on the Arduino nano board
\(0111\)	ADC7 - Not used on the Arduino nano board
\(1000\)	ADC8 - Used for internal temperature sensor.
\(1001\)	Reserved
\(1010\)	Reserved
\(1011\)	Reserved
\(1100\)	Reserved
\(1101\)	Reserved
\(1110\)	1.1V (\(V_\mathrm{BG}\))
\(1111\)	GND

ADCSRA - ADC Control and Status Register A

Bit 7 - ADEN: ADC Enable

Writing 1 to bit 7 of the ADCSRA register enables the ADC. Writing 0 to this bit turns the ADC off.

Bit 6 - ADSC: ADC Start Conversion

• In Single Conversion Mode, writing 1 to bit 6 of the ADCSRA register starts the conversion.
• In Free Running Mode, writing 1 to this bit starts the first conversion.

Bit 5 - ADATE: ADC Start Conversion

When 1 is written to bit 5 of the ADCSRA register, the ADC will start a conversion on a positive edge of the selected trigger signal⁷

Bit 4 - ADIF: ADC Interrupt Flag

This bit is set when an ADC conversion completes, and the data registers are updated. The ADC Conversion Complete Interrupt is executed if the ADIE bit and the I-bit in the status register are set.

Bit 3 - ADIE: ADC Interrupt Enable

Writing 1 to bit30 of the ADCSRA register, when the I-bit in the status register is set, activates the ADC Conversion Complete Interrupt

Bits 2-0 - ADPS[2:0]: ADC Interrupt Enable

Bits 2-0 of ADCSRA determine the division factor between the system clock frequency and the input clock to the ADC. That is they set the sample rate for free-running mode. The prescaler settings are tabulated in Table 3.

Table 3: Clock Division Factor selected by Prescaler Select Bits 2-0

ADPS2	ADPS1	ADPS0	Division Factor
0	0	0	2
0	0	1	2
0	1	0	4
0	1	1	8
1	0	0	16
1	0	1	32
1	1	0	64
1	1	1	128

ADCSRB - ADC Control and Status Register B

Bit 6 - ACME: Analogue comparator multiplexer enable

When logic 1 is written to bit 6 of ADCSRB the ADC is switched off, the ADC multiplexer selects the negative input to the Analog Comparator. When 0 is written to this bit, AIN1 is applied to the negative input of the Analog Comparator.

Note: The Analog Comparator compares the input values on the positive pin AIN0 and negative pin AIN1. When the voltage on the positive pin AIN0 is higher than the voltage on the negative pin AIN1, the Analog Comparator output, ACO, is set.

Bits 2:0 - ADT[2:0]: ADC Autotrigger source

If logic 1 is written to the ADATE bit in the ADCSRA register, the value of the ADTS bits selects which source will trigger an ADC conversion. The trigger source settings are tabulated in Table 4.

Table 4: ADC Trigger Source.

ADTS2	ADTS1	ADTS0	Trigger Source
0	0	0	Free Running Mode
0	0	1	Analogue Comparitor
0	1	0	External Interrupt Request 0
0	1	1	Timer/Counter 0 Compare Match A
1	0	0	Timer/Counter 0 Overflow
1	0	1	Timer/Counter 0 Compare Match B
1	1	0	Timer/Counter 1 Overflow
1	1	1	Timer/Counter 1 Capture Event

ADCL and ADCH - The ADC Data Registers

The ADC Data Registers are illustrated in Figure 19.

Figure 19: The ADC Data Registers ADCH and ADCL when (a) ADLAR = 0 and (b) when ADLAR = 1.

When an ADC conversion is complete, the result is put in these two registers⁸.

When ADCL is read, the ADC Data Register is not updated until ADCH is read.

If the result is left adjusted and no more than 8-bit precision is required, it is sufficient to read ADCH. Otherwise, ADCL must be read first, then ADCH.

DIDR0 - Digital Input Disable Register 0

Bits 5:0 - ADC5D…ADC0D: ADC5…0 Digital Input Disable

When logic 1 is written to one of these bits, the digital input buffer on the corresponding ADC pin is disabled. (i.e. the corresponding PIN register bit will always read zero).

When an analog signal is applied to the ADC5…0 pin and the digital input from this pin is not needed, logic 1 should be written to this bit to reduce power consumption in the digital input buffer.

Setting up the ADC

The following steps are illustrated in flow-chart form in Figure 20.

Figure 20: A flow chart of the ADC initialization steps

In words, the operations to be completed are:

1. Define convenient names for the required registers.
2. Set the data direction of the relevant pins to input (DDRxn)
3. Set the corresponding pin in the input disable register to 1 to disable the input buffer (DIDR0)
4. Select the reference voltage, result alignment and input channel (ADMUX)
5. Select the ADC prescaler value in the A control and status register (ADCSRA)
6. Write a 1 to the ADEN bit of the A control and status register to enable the ADC (ADCSRA)

The main code is illustrated in the flowchart shown in Figure 21.

Figure 21: A flow chart of the ADC operation loop

In words, the operations to be completed are:

1. Within the infinite for loop, Write a 1 to the ADSC bit of the A control and status register each time you want to start a conversion (`ADCSRA``)
2. Monitor for the ADSC bit going low (or the ADIF bit going high) of the A control and status register.
3. Read the converted value from the result registers (ADCH and ADCL).
4. Do something with the ADC result.

We illustrate this in Section 4.

Analogue I/O Example program

Single Conversion Example

Figure 22: The prototype board showing the finished Arduino nano application with ADC and digital outputs.

• The centre tap of the blue potentiometer shown in Figure 22 is connected to the analogue input A0 which represents Port C Bit 0 on the ATmega328 microcontroller.
• As the voltage at the input changes, the value is reflected on the 6 LEDs.
• What does the code for this look like without using the predefined Arduino function – analogRead?

Example code - aligning port names to the I/O memory map

We showed how we use the #define function to map our program variables to the I/O memory map shown in Example code - aligning port names to the I/O memory map. We use the same technique to map the digital and analogue registers to programmer friendly names:

//I/O and ADC Register definitions taken from datasheet
#define PORTB  (*(volatile uint8_t *)(0x25))
#define DDRB   (*(volatile uint8_t *)(0x24))
#define PINB   (*(volatile uint8_t *)(0x23))

#define ADMUX  (*(volatile uint8_t *)(0x7C))
#define ADCSRA (*(volatile uint8_t *)(0x7A))
#define ADCRSB (*(volatile uint8_t *)(0x7B))
#define ADCH   (*(volatile uint8_t *)(0x79))
#define ADCL   (*(volatile uint8_t *)(0x78))
#define DIDR0  (*(volatile uint8_t *)(0x7E))

We now define some unsigned integers as either 8 or 16 bits:

• Variable type: uint16_t
• first variable name: adc_result
• High and low byte of adc_result: adc_result_high, adc_result_low
• second variable name: previous_result
• Initial value of previous_result = 0;”

The definitions are:

uint16_t adc_result, previous_result = 0;
uint8_t  adc_result_low, adc_result_high;

Example - the main function

We discussed this in Example Code - the main function.

Example - set up I/O using the registers

// Set Data Direction Registers
DDRB = DDRB | 0b00111111; // Setup bits 0 - 5 of port B as outputs

// Turn all LEDs off
PORTB = PORTB & 0b11000000; // Pins B0 (D8) - B5 (D13) start low
    
// Set up ADC on pin A0
DIDR0 = DIDR0 | 0b00000001; //Disable pin A0 as a digital input
    
ADMUX = 0b01000000; // Select reference voltage, right adjusted result and select channel ADC0 - A0

ADCSRA = ADCSRA | 0b00000111; // Select ADC Prescaler

ADCSRA = ADCSRA | 0b10000000; // Enable ADC

Example - the processing loop

for(;;)
{
    ADCSRA = ADCSRA | 0b01000000;         //start conversion by writing 1 to the ADSC bit
        
    while((ADCSRA & 0b01000000) != 0) { } //wait until the ADSC bit changes to 0

    adc_result_low  = ADCL;     //read the low byte of the result into adc_result_low
    adc_result_high = ADCH;     //read the high byte of the result into adc_result_high
    /* shift whole 8 bits of ADC high byte into most significant byte of ADC result and 
       add in ADC low byte using bitwise OR. */
    adc_result = (adc_result_high<<8) | adc_result_low; 

    // do somethinhg interesting with the ADC readings

}

Example - the full program

The full program is available as a GitHub gist: main.c. You will need a fully featured IDE, such as Microchip Studio, to compile and upload the code to the Ardino nano board.

Simulation of the full program

Wokwi is an online Electronics simulator. You can use it to simulate Arduino, ESP32, STM32, and many other popular boards, parts and sensors. – Welcome to Wokwi!

My 2024-2025 EG-353 Individual Engineering Project student, Yousef Alsayegh, has created Wokwi simulations of Ben Clifford’s demonstration programs. Here is the simulation of this week’s simulation Week 6: Interfacing to analogue I/O with C. You can run the simulation and play with the code.

Summary

In this section we have:

• Discussed the differences between analogue and digital signals and the challenges in working with them.
• Explored analogue to digital conversion looking at the architectures and focusing on SAR based ADCs.
• Continued looking at I/O operations on the Atmel ATmega328 microcontroller focusing on analogue signals and using the ADC registers.

On Canvas

This week on the canvas course pages, you will find the sample program from today’s lecture, look through this and ensure you are confident in how it works and how the registers are set for analogue inputs and how masks are used for the digital outputs to the LEDS.

There is also a short quiz to test your knowledge on these topics.

Any Questions?

Please use the Course Question Board on Canvas or take advantage of the lecturers’ office hours.

Next time

• Introduction to Assembly Language

Footnotes

1. Note the symbols \(\lfloor \ldots \rfloor\) are called floor. They round a decimal number to the next lowest integer value. That is the decimal part is simply eliminated. Thus quantization is always going to choose the bin that is the closest to the truncated part of the decimal number.

2. The multiplexer allows multiple inputs to share one set of ADC hardware.

3. Understanding SAR ADCs: Their Architecture and Comparison with Other ADCs, Analog Devices.

4. The “next bit along” will be the MSB-\(1^\mathrm{th}\) bit. That is, for a 12-bit ADC, MSB is bit 11, and the next bit along will be bit 10. If the previous comparison produced a 1, the binary value we are testing is now \(2^{11} + 2^{10} = 2048 + 1024 = 3072\). If the comparison at the previous step was 0, the binary value we are testing is now \(2^{10} = 1024\). The corresponding values of \(V_\mathrm{DAC}\) will now be either \(3072/4096 V_\mathrm{REF} = 0.75 V_\mathrm{REF}\) or \(1024/4096 V_\mathrm{REF} = 0.25 V_\mathrm{REF}\). This process continues until all bits have been considered.

5. SPS = Samples per second.

6. The internal voltage reference options may not be used if an external reference voltage is being applied to the AREF pin of the microcontroller chip.

7. This bit is used for clock-based ADC operation when you need a controlled and predictable sampling rate.

8. Recall that the ADC has a precision of up to 10 bits so two data registers are required. Register ADCL contains the least significant 8 bits, bits [0-7] and ACDH contains the most significant bits bit 8 and bit 9.