2 Keith Packard <keithp@keithp.com>
9 :pdf-theme: altusmetrum
12 include::header.adoc[]
16 AltOS is a operating system built for a variety of
17 microcontrollers used in Altus Metrum devices. It has a simple
18 porting layer for each CPU while providing a convenient
19 operating enviroment for the developer. AltOS currently
20 supports three different CPUs:
22 * STM32L series from ST Microelectronics. This ARM Cortex-M3
23 based microcontroller offers low power consumption and a
24 wide variety of built-in peripherals. Altus Metrum uses this
25 in the TeleMega, MegaDongle and TeleLCO projects.
27 * CC1111 from Texas Instruments. This device includes a
28 fabulous 10mW digital RF transceiver along with an
29 8051-compatible processor core and a range of
30 peripherals. This is used in the TeleMetrum, TeleMini,
31 TeleDongle and TeleFire projects which share the need for a
32 small microcontroller and an RF interface.
34 * ATmega32U4 from Atmel. This 8-bit AVR microcontroller is one
35 of the many used to create Arduino boards. The 32U4 includes
36 a USB interface, making it easy to connect to other
37 computers. Altus Metrum used this in prototypes of the
38 TeleScience and TelePyro boards; those have been switched to
39 the STM32L which is more capable and cheaper.
41 Among the features of AltOS are:
43 * Multi-tasking. While microcontrollers often don't
44 provide separate address spaces, it's often easier to write
45 code that operates in separate threads instead of tying
46 everything into one giant event loop.
48 * Non-preemptive. This increases latency for thread
49 switching but reduces the number of places where context
50 switching can occur. It also simplifies the operating system
51 design somewhat. Nothing in the target system (rocket flight
52 control) has tight timing requirements, and so this seems like
53 a reasonable compromise.
55 * Sleep/wakeup scheduling. Taken directly from ancient
56 Unix designs, these two provide the fundemental scheduling
57 primitive within AltOS.
59 * Mutexes. As a locking primitive, mutexes are easier to
60 use than semaphores, at least in my experience.
62 * Timers. Tasks can set an alarm which will abort any
63 pending sleep, allowing operations to time-out instead of
66 The device drivers and other subsystems in AltOS are
67 conventionally enabled by invoking their _init() function from
68 the 'main' function before that calls
69 ao_start_scheduler(). These functions initialize the pin
70 assignments, add various commands to the command processor and
71 may add tasks to the scheduler to handle the device. A typical
72 main program, thus, looks like:
80 \ /* Turn on the LED until the system is stable */
81 \ ao_led_init(LEDS_AVAILABLE);
82 \ ao_led_on(AO_LED_RED);
86 \ ao_monitor_init(AO_LED_GREEN, TRUE);
87 \ ao_rssi_init(AO_LED_RED);
89 \ ao_packet_slave_init();
90 \ ao_packet_master_init();
95 \ ao_start_scheduler();
99 As you can see, a long sequence of subsystems are initialized
100 and then the scheduler is started.
102 == AltOS Porting Layer
104 AltOS provides a CPU-independent interface to various common
105 microcontroller subsystems, including GPIO pins, interrupts,
106 SPI, I2C, USB and asynchronous serial interfaces. By making
107 these CPU-independent, device drivers, generic OS and
108 application code can all be written that work on any supported
109 CPU. Many of the architecture abstraction interfaces are
110 prefixed with ao_arch.
112 === Low-level CPU operations
114 These primitive operations provide the abstraction needed to
115 run the multi-tasking framework while providing reliable
118 ==== ao_arch_block_interrupts/ao_arch_release_interrupts
122 ao_arch_block_interrupts(void);
125 ao_arch_release_interrupts(void);
128 These disable/enable interrupt delivery, they may not
129 discard any interrupts. Use these for sections of code that
130 must be atomic with respect to any code run from an
133 ==== ao_arch_save_regs, ao_arch_save_stack, ao_arch_restore_stack
137 ao_arch_save_regs(void);
140 ao_arch_save_stack(void);
143 ao_arch_restore_stack(void);
146 These provide all of the support needed to switch
147 between tasks.. ao_arch_save_regs must save all CPU
148 registers to the current stack, including the
149 interrupt enable state. ao_arch_save_stack records the
150 current stack location in the current ao_task
151 structure. ao_arch_restore_stack switches back to the
152 saved stack, restores all registers and branches to
153 the saved return address.
155 ==== ao_arch_wait_interupt
158 #define ao_arch_wait_interrupt()
161 This stops the CPU, leaving clocks and interrupts
162 enabled. When an interrupt is received, this must wake up
163 and handle the interrupt. ao_arch_wait_interrupt is entered
164 with interrupts disabled to ensure that there is no gap
165 between determining that no task wants to run and idling the
166 CPU. It must sleep the CPU, process interrupts and then
167 disable interrupts again. If the CPU doesn't have any
168 reduced power mode, this must at the least allow pending
169 interrupts to be processed.
173 These functions provide an abstract interface to configure and
174 manipulate GPIO pins.
178 These macros may be invoked at system
179 initialization time to configure pins as
180 needed for system operation. One tricky aspect
181 is that some chips provide direct access to
182 specific GPIO pins while others only provide
183 access to a whole register full of pins. To
184 support this, the GPIO macros provide both
185 port+bit and pin arguments. Simply define the
186 arguments needed for the target platform and
187 leave the others undefined.
189 ===== ao_enable_output
192 #define ao_enable_output(port, bit, pin, value)
195 Set the specified port+bit (also called 'pin')
196 for output, initializing to the specified
197 value. The macro must avoid driving the pin
198 with the opposite value if at all possible.
200 ===== ao_enable_input
203 #define ao_enable_input(port, bit, mode)
206 Sets the specified port/bit to be an input
207 pin. 'mode' is a combination of one or more of
208 the following. Note that some platforms may
209 not support the desired mode. In that case,
210 the value will not be defined so that the
211 program will fail to compile.
213 * AO_EXTI_MODE_PULL_UP. Apply a pull-up to the
214 pin; a disconnected pin will read as 1.
216 * AO_EXTI_MODE_PULL_DOWN. Apply a pull-down to
217 the pin; a disconnected pin will read as 0.
219 * 0. Don't apply either a pull-up or
220 pull-down. A disconnected pin will read an
223 ==== Reading and writing GPIO pins
225 These macros read and write individual GPIO pins.
230 #define ao_gpio_set(port, bit, pin, value)
233 Sets the specified port/bit or pin to
239 #define ao_gpio_get(port, bit, pin)
242 Returns either 1 or 0 depending on
243 whether the input to the pin is high
245 == Programming the 8051 with SDCC
247 The 8051 is a primitive 8-bit processor, designed in the mists
248 of time in as few transistors as possible. The architecture is
249 highly irregular and includes several separate memory
250 spaces. Furthermore, accessing stack variables is slow, and
251 the stack itself is of limited size. While SDCC papers over
252 the instruction set, it is not completely able to hide the
253 memory architecture from the application designer.
255 When built on other architectures, the various SDCC-specific
256 symbols are #defined as empty strings so they don't affect the
259 === 8051 memory spaces
261 The __data/__xdata/__code memory spaces below were completely
262 separate in the original 8051 design. In the cc1111, this
263 isn't true—they all live in a single unified 64kB address
264 space, and so it's possible to convert any address into a
265 unique 16-bit address. SDCC doesn't know this, and so a
266 'global' address to SDCC consumes 3 bytes of memory, 1 byte as
267 a tag indicating the memory space and 2 bytes of offset within
268 that space. AltOS avoids these 3-byte addresses as much as
269 possible; using them involves a function call per byte
270 access. The result is that nearly every variable declaration
271 is decorated with a memory space identifier which clutters the
272 code but makes the resulting code far smaller and more
277 The 8051 can directly address these 128 bytes of
278 memory. This makes them precious so they should be
279 reserved for frequently addressed values. Oh, just to
280 confuse things further, the 8 general registers in the
281 CPU are actually stored in this memory space. There are
282 magic instructions to 'bank switch' among 4 banks of
283 these registers located at 0x00 - 0x1F. AltOS uses only
284 the first bank at 0x00 - 0x07, leaving the other 24
285 bytes available for other data.
289 There are an additional 128 bytes of internal memory
290 that share the same address space as __data but which
291 cannot be directly addressed. The stack normally
292 occupies this space and so AltOS doesn't place any
297 This is additional general memory accessed through a
298 single 16-bit address register. The CC1111F32 has 32kB
299 of memory available here. Most program data should live
300 in this memory space.
304 This is an alias for the first 256 bytes of __xdata
305 memory, but uses a shorter addressing mode with
306 single global 8-bit value for the high 8 bits of the
307 address and any of several 8-bit registers for the low 8
308 bits. AltOS uses a few bits of this memory, it should
313 All executable code must live in this address space, but
314 you can stick read-only data here too. It is addressed
315 using the 16-bit address register and special 'code'
316 access opcodes. Anything read-only should live in this space.
320 The 8051 has 128 bits of bit-addressible memory that
321 lives in the __data segment from 0x20 through
322 0x2f. Special instructions access these bits
323 in a single atomic operation. This isn't so much a
324 separate address space as a special addressing mode for
325 a few bytes in the __data segment.
327 ==== __sfr, __sfr16, __sfr32, __sbit
329 Access to physical registers in the device use this mode
330 which declares the variable name, its type and the
331 address it lives at. No memory is allocated for these
334 === Function calls on the 8051
336 Because stack addressing is expensive, and stack space
337 limited, the default function call declaration in SDCC
338 allocates all parameters and local variables in static global
339 memory. Just like fortran. This makes these functions
340 non-reentrant, and also consume space for parameters and
341 locals even when they are not running. The benefit is smaller
342 code and faster execution.
344 ==== __reentrant functions
346 All functions which are re-entrant, either due to recursion
347 or due to a potential context switch while executing, should
348 be marked as __reentrant so that their parameters and local
349 variables get allocated on the stack. This ensures that
350 these values are not overwritten by another invocation of
353 Functions which use significant amounts of space for
354 arguments and/or local variables and which are not often
355 invoked can also be marked as __reentrant. The resulting
356 code will be larger, but the savings in memory are
357 frequently worthwhile.
359 ==== Non __reentrant functions
361 All parameters and locals in non-reentrant functions can
362 have data space decoration so that they are allocated in
363 __xdata, __pdata or __data space as desired. This can avoid
364 consuming __data space for infrequently used variables in
365 frequently used functions.
367 All library functions called by SDCC, including functions
368 for multiplying and dividing large data types, are
369 non-reentrant. Because of this, interrupt handlers must not
370 invoke any library functions, including the multiply and
373 ==== __interrupt functions
375 Interrupt functions are declared with with an __interrupt
376 decoration that includes the interrupt number. SDCC saves
377 and restores all of the registers in these functions and
378 uses the 'reti' instruction at the end so that they operate
379 as stand-alone interrupt handlers. Interrupt functions may
380 call the ao_wakeup function to wake AltOS tasks.
382 ==== __critical functions and statements
384 SDCC has built-in support for suspending interrupts during
385 critical code. Functions marked as __critical will have
386 interrupts suspended for the whole period of
387 execution. Individual statements may also be marked as
388 __critical which blocks interrupts during the execution of
389 that statement. Keeping critical sections as short as
390 possible is key to ensuring that interrupts are handled as
391 quickly as possible. AltOS doesn't use this form in shared
392 code as other compilers wouldn't know what to do. Use
393 ao_arch_block_interrupts and ao_arch_release_interrupts instead.
397 This chapter documents how to create, destroy and schedule
404 \ao_add_task(__xdata struct ao_task * task,
405 \ void (*start)(void),
406 \ __code char *name);
409 This initializes the statically allocated task structure,
410 assigns a name to it (not used for anything but the task
411 display), and the start address. It does not switch to the
412 new task. 'start' must not ever return; there is no place
422 This terminates the current task.
428 ao_sleep(__xdata void *wchan)
431 This suspends the current task until 'wchan' is signaled
432 by ao_wakeup, or until the timeout, set by ao_alarm,
433 fires. If 'wchan' is signaled, ao_sleep returns 0, otherwise
434 it returns 1. This is the only way to switch to another task.
436 Because ao_wakeup wakes every task waiting on a particular
437 location, ao_sleep should be used in a loop that first checks
438 the desired condition, blocks in ao_sleep and then rechecks
439 until the condition is satisfied. If the location may be
440 signaled from an interrupt handler, the code will need to
441 block interrupts around the block of code. Here's a complete
445 \ao_arch_block_interrupts();
446 \while (!ao_radio_done)
447 \ ao_sleep(&ao_radio_done);
448 \ao_arch_release_interrupts();
455 ao_wakeup(__xdata void *wchan)
458 Wake all tasks blocked on 'wchan'. This makes them
459 available to be run again, but does not actually switch
460 to another task. Here's an example of using this:
463 \if (RFIF & RFIF_IM_DONE) {
465 \ ao_wakeup(&ao_radio_done);
466 \ RFIF &= ~RFIF_IM_DONE;
470 Note that this need not block interrupts as the
471 ao_sleep block can only be run from normal mode, and
472 so this sequence can never be interrupted with
473 execution of the other sequence.
479 ao_alarm(uint16_t delay);
482 ao_clear_alarm(void);
485 Schedules an alarm to fire in at least 'delay'
486 ticks. If the task is asleep when the alarm fires, it
487 will wakeup and ao_sleep will return 1. ao_clear_alarm
488 resets any pending alarm so that it doesn't fire at
489 some arbitrary point in the future.
492 ao_alarm(ao_packet_master_delay);
493 ao_arch_block_interrupts();
494 while (!ao_radio_dma_done)
495 if (ao_sleep(&ao_radio_dma_done) != 0)
497 ao_arch_release_interrupts();
501 In this example, a timeout is set before waiting for
502 incoming radio data. If no data is received before the
503 timeout fires, ao_sleep will return 1 and then this
504 code will abort the radio receive operation.
506 === ao_start_scheduler
510 ao_start_scheduler(void);
513 This is called from 'main' when the system is all
514 initialized and ready to run. It will not return.
523 This initializes the main CPU clock and switches to it.
527 AltOS sets up one of the CPU timers to run at 100Hz and
528 exposes this tick as the fundemental unit of time. At each
529 interrupt, AltOS increments the counter, and schedules any tasks
530 waiting for that time to pass, then fires off the sensors to
531 collect current data readings. Doing this from the ISR ensures
532 that the values are sampled at a regular rate, independent
533 of any scheduling jitter.
542 Returns the current system tick count. Note that this is
543 only a 16 bit value, and so it wraps every 655.36 seconds.
549 ao_delay(uint16_t ticks);
552 Suspend the current task for at least 'ticks' clock units.
554 === ao_timer_set_adc_interval
558 ao_timer_set_adc_interval(uint8_t interval);
561 This sets the number of ticks between ADC samples. If set
562 to 0, no ADC samples are generated. AltOS uses this to
563 slow down the ADC sampling rate to save power.
572 This turns on the 100Hz tick. It is required for any of the
573 time-based functions to work. It should be called by 'main'
574 before ao_start_scheduler.
578 AltOS provides mutexes as a basic synchronization primitive. Each
579 mutexes is simply a byte of memory which holds 0 when the mutex
580 is free or the task id of the owning task when the mutex is
581 owned. Mutex calls are checked—attempting to acquire a mutex
582 already held by the current task or releasing a mutex not held
583 by the current task will both cause a panic.
589 ao_mutex_get(__xdata uint8_t *mutex);
592 Acquires the specified mutex, blocking if the mutex is
593 owned by another task.
599 ao_mutex_put(__xdata uint8_t *mutex);
602 Releases the specified mutex, waking up all tasks waiting
607 The CC1111 and STM32L both contain a useful bit of extra
608 hardware in the form of a number of programmable DMA
609 engines. They can be configured to copy data in memory, or
610 between memory and devices (or even between two devices). AltOS
611 exposes a general interface to this hardware and uses it to
612 handle both internal and external devices.
614 Because the CC1111 and STM32L DMA engines are different, the
615 interface to them is also different. As the DMA engines are
616 currently used to implement platform-specific drivers, this
619 Code using a DMA engine should allocate one at startup
620 time. There is no provision to free them, and if you run out,
621 AltOS will simply panic.
623 During operation, the DMA engine is initialized with the
624 transfer parameters. Then it is started, at which point it
625 awaits a suitable event to start copying data. When copying data
626 from hardware to memory, that trigger event is supplied by the
627 hardware device. When copying data from memory to hardware, the
628 transfer is usually initiated by software.
630 === CC1111 DMA Engine
636 ao_dma_alloc(__xdata uint8_t *done)
639 Allocate a DMA engine, returning the
640 identifier. 'done' is cleared when the DMA is
641 started, and then receives the AO_DMA_DONE bit
642 on a successful transfer or the AO_DMA_ABORTED
643 bit if ao_dma_abort was called. Note that it
644 is possible to get both bits if the transfer
645 was aborted after it had finished.
647 ==== ao_dma_set_transfer
651 ao_dma_set_transfer(uint8_t id,
652 void __xdata *srcaddr,
653 void __xdata *dstaddr,
659 Initializes the specified dma engine to copy
660 data from 'srcaddr' to 'dstaddr' for 'count'
661 units. cfg0 and cfg1 are values directly out
662 of the CC1111 documentation and tell the DMA
663 engine what the transfer unit size, direction
670 ao_dma_start(uint8_t id);
673 Arm the specified DMA engine and await a
674 signal from either hardware or software to
675 start transferring data.
681 ao_dma_trigger(uint8_t id)
684 Trigger the specified DMA engine to start
691 ao_dma_abort(uint8_t id)
694 Terminate any in-progress DMA transaction,
695 marking its 'done' variable with the
698 === STM32L DMA Engine
703 uint8_t ao_dma_done[];
706 ao_dma_alloc(uint8_t index);
709 Reserve a DMA engine for exclusive use by one
712 ==== ao_dma_set_transfer
716 ao_dma_set_transfer(uint8_t id,
723 Initializes the specified dma engine to copy
724 data between 'peripheral' and 'memory' for
725 'count' units. 'ccr' is a value directly out
726 of the STM32L documentation and tells the DMA
727 engine what the transfer unit size, direction
734 ao_dma_set_isr(uint8_t index, void (*isr)(int))
737 This sets a function to be called when the DMA
738 transfer completes in lieu of setting the
739 ao_dma_done bits. Use this when some work
740 needs to be done when the DMA finishes that
741 cannot wait until user space resumes.
747 ao_dma_start(uint8_t id);
750 Arm the specified DMA engine and await a
751 signal from either hardware or software to
752 start transferring data. 'ao_dma_done[index]'
753 is cleared when the DMA is started, and then
754 receives the AO_DMA_DONE bit on a successful
755 transfer or the AO_DMA_ABORTED bit if
756 ao_dma_abort was called. Note that it is
757 possible to get both bits if the transfer was
758 aborted after it had finished.
760 ==== ao_dma_done_transfer
764 ao_dma_done_transfer(uint8_t id);
767 Signals that a specific DMA engine is done
768 being used. This allows multiple drivers to
769 use the same DMA engine safely.
775 ao_dma_abort(uint8_t id)
778 Terminate any in-progress DMA transaction,
779 marking its 'done' variable with the
784 AltOS offers a stdio interface over USB, serial and the RF
785 packet link. This provides for control of the device locally or
786 remotely. This is hooked up to the stdio functions by providing
787 the standard putchar/getchar/flush functions. These
788 automatically multiplex the available communication channels;
789 output is always delivered to the channel which provided the
799 Delivers a single character to the current console
809 Reads a single character from any of the available
810 console devices. The current console device is set to
811 that which delivered this character. This blocks until
812 a character is available.
821 Flushes the current console device output buffer. Any
822 pending characters will be delivered to the target device.
828 ao_add_stdio(char (*pollchar)(void),
829 void (*putchar)(char),
833 This adds another console device to the available
836 'pollchar' returns either an available character or
837 AO_READ_AGAIN if none is available. Significantly, it does
838 not block. The device driver must set 'ao_stdin_ready' to
839 1 and call ao_wakeup(&ao_stdin_ready) when it receives
840 input to tell getchar that more data is available, at
841 which point 'pollchar' will be called again.
843 'putchar' queues a character for output, flushing if the output buffer is
844 full. It may block in this case.
846 'flush' forces the output buffer to be flushed. It may
847 block until the buffer is delivered, but it is not
850 == Command line interface
852 AltOS includes a simple command line parser which is hooked up
853 to the stdio interfaces permitting remote control of the
854 device over USB, serial or the RF link as desired. Each
855 command uses a single character to invoke it, the remaining
856 characters on the line are available as parameters to the
863 ao_cmd_register(__code struct ao_cmds *cmds)
866 This registers a set of commands with the command
867 parser. There is a fixed limit on the number of command
868 sets, the system will panic if too many are registered.
869 Each command is defined by a struct ao_cmds entry:
874 \ void (*func)(void);
878 'cmd' is the character naming the command. 'func' is the
879 function to invoke and 'help' is a string displayed by the
880 '?' command. Syntax errors found while executing 'func'
881 should be indicated by modifying the global ao_cmd_status
882 variable with one of the following values:
886 The command was parsed successfully. There is no need
887 to assign this value, it is the default.
891 A token in the line was invalid, such as a number
892 containing invalid characters. The low-level lexing
893 functions already assign this value as needed.
897 The command line is invalid for some reason other than
907 This gets the next character out of the command line
908 buffer and sticks it into ao_cmd_lex_c. At the end of
909 the line, ao_cmd_lex_c will get a newline ('\n')
916 ao_cmd_put16(uint16_t v);
919 Writes 'v' as four hexadecimal characters.
925 ao_cmd_put8(uint8_t v);
928 Writes 'v' as two hexadecimal characters.
937 This skips whitespace by calling ao_cmd_lex while
938 ao_cmd_lex_c is either a space or tab. It does not
939 skip any characters if ao_cmd_lex_c already non-white.
948 This reads a 16-bit hexadecimal value from the command
949 line with optional leading whitespace. The resulting
950 value is stored in ao_cmd_lex_i;
959 This reads a 32-bit decimal value from the command
960 line with optional leading whitespace. The resulting
961 value is stored in ao_cmd_lex_u32 and the low 16 bits
962 are stored in ao_cmd_lex_i;
968 ao_match_word(__code char *word)
971 This checks to make sure that 'word' occurs on the
972 command line. It does not skip leading white space. If
973 'word' is found, then 1 is returned. Otherwise,
974 ao_cmd_status is set to ao_cmd_syntax_error and 0 is
984 Initializes the command system, setting up the
985 built-in commands and adding a task to run the command
986 processing loop. It should be called by 'main' before
991 AltOS contains a full-speed USB target device driver. It can
992 be programmed to offer any kind of USB target, but to simplify
993 interactions with a variety of operating systems, AltOS
994 provides only a single target device profile, that of a USB
995 modem which has native drivers for Linux, Windows and Mac OS
996 X. It would be easy to change the code to provide an alternate
997 target device if necessary.
999 To the rest of the system, the USB device looks like a simple
1000 two-way byte stream. It can be hooked into the command line
1001 interface if desired, offering control of the device over the
1002 USB link. Alternatively, the functions can be accessed
1003 directly to provide for USB-specific I/O.
1012 Flushes any pending USB output. This queues an 'IN'
1013 packet to be delivered to the USB host if there is
1014 pending data, or if the last IN packet was full to
1015 indicate to the host that there isn't any more pending
1022 ao_usb_putchar(char c);
1025 If there is a pending 'IN' packet awaiting delivery to
1026 the host, this blocks until that has been
1027 fetched. Then, this adds a byte to the pending IN
1028 packet for delivery to the USB host. If the USB packet
1029 is full, this queues the 'IN' packet for delivery.
1035 ao_usb_pollchar(void);
1038 If there are no characters remaining in the last 'OUT'
1039 packet received, this returns
1040 AO_READ_AGAIN. Otherwise, it returns the next
1041 character, reporting to the host that it is ready for
1042 more data when the last character is gone.
1048 ao_usb_getchar(void);
1051 This uses ao_pollchar to receive the next character,
1052 blocking while ao_pollchar returns AO_READ_AGAIN.
1058 ao_usb_disable(void);
1061 This turns off the USB controller. It will no longer
1062 respond to host requests, nor return
1063 characters. Calling any of the i/o routines while the
1064 USB device is disabled is undefined, and likely to
1065 break things. Disabling the USB device when not needed
1068 Note that neither TeleDongle v0.2 nor TeleMetrum v1
1069 are able to signal to the USB host that they have
1070 disconnected, so after disabling the USB device, it's
1071 likely that the cable will need to be disconnected and
1072 reconnected before it will work again.
1078 ao_usb_enable(void);
1081 This turns the USB controller on again after it has
1082 been disabled. See the note above about needing to
1083 physically remove and re-insert the cable to get the
1084 host to re-initialize the USB link.
1093 This turns the USB controller on, adds a task to
1094 handle the control end point and adds the usb I/O
1095 functions to the stdio system. Call this from main
1096 before ao_start_scheduler.
1098 == Serial peripherals
1100 The CC1111 provides two USART peripherals. AltOS uses one for
1101 asynch serial data, generally to communicate with a GPS
1102 device, and the other for a SPI bus. The UART is configured to
1103 operate in 8-bits, no parity, 1 stop bit framing. The default
1104 configuration has clock settings for 4800, 9600 and 57600 baud
1105 operation. Additional speeds can be added by computing
1106 appropriate clock values.
1108 To prevent loss of data, AltOS provides receive and transmit
1109 fifos of 32 characters each.
1111 === ao_serial_getchar
1115 ao_serial_getchar(void);
1118 Returns the next character from the receive fifo, blocking
1119 until a character is received if the fifo is empty.
1121 === ao_serial_putchar
1125 ao_serial_putchar(char c);
1128 Adds a character to the transmit fifo, blocking if the
1129 fifo is full. Starts transmitting characters.
1135 ao_serial_drain(void);
1138 Blocks until the transmit fifo is empty. Used internally
1139 when changing serial speeds.
1141 === ao_serial_set_speed
1145 ao_serial_set_speed(uint8_t speed);
1148 Changes the serial baud rate to one of
1149 AO_SERIAL_SPEED_4800, AO_SERIAL_SPEED_9600 or
1150 AO_SERIAL_SPEED_57600. This first flushes the transmit
1151 fifo using ao_serial_drain.
1157 ao_serial_init(void)
1160 Initializes the serial peripheral. Call this from 'main'
1161 before jumping to ao_start_scheduler. The default speed
1162 setting is AO_SERIAL_SPEED_4800.
1164 == CC1111/CC1120/CC1200 Radio peripheral
1166 === Radio Introduction
1168 The CC1111, CC1120 and CC1200 radio transceiver sends
1169 and receives digital packets with forward error
1170 correction and detection. The AltOS driver is fairly
1171 specific to the needs of the TeleMetrum and TeleDongle
1172 devices, using it for other tasks may require
1173 customization of the driver itself. There are three
1174 basic modes of operation:
1176 . Telemetry mode. In this mode, TeleMetrum transmits telemetry
1177 frames at a fixed rate. The frames are of fixed size. This
1178 is strictly a one-way communication from TeleMetrum to
1181 . Packet mode. In this mode, the radio is used to create a
1182 reliable duplex byte stream between TeleDongle and
1183 TeleMetrum. This is an asymmetrical protocol with
1184 TeleMetrum only transmitting in response to a packet sent
1185 from TeleDongle. Thus getting data from TeleMetrum to
1186 TeleDongle requires polling. The polling rate is adaptive,
1187 when no data has been received for a while, the rate slows
1188 down. The packets are checked at both ends and invalid data
1191 On the TeleMetrum side, the packet link is hooked into the
1192 stdio mechanism, providing an alternate data path for the
1193 command processor. It is enabled when the unit boots up in
1196 On the TeleDongle side, the packet link is enabled with a
1197 command; data from the stdio package is forwarded over the
1198 packet link providing a connection from the USB command
1199 stream to the remote TeleMetrum device.
1201 . Radio Direction Finding mode. In this mode, TeleMetrum
1202 constructs a special packet that sounds like an audio tone
1203 when received by a conventional narrow-band FM
1204 receiver. This is designed to provide a beacon to track the
1205 device when other location mechanisms fail.
1207 === ao_radio_set_telemetry
1211 ao_radio_set_telemetry(void);
1214 Configures the radio to send or receive telemetry
1215 packets. This includes packet length, modulation scheme and
1216 other RF parameters. It does not include the base frequency
1217 or channel though. Those are set at the time of transmission
1218 or reception, in case the values are changed by the user.
1220 === ao_radio_set_packet
1224 ao_radio_set_packet(void);
1227 Configures the radio to send or receive packet data. This
1228 includes packet length, modulation scheme and other RF
1229 parameters. It does not include the base frequency or
1230 channel though. Those are set at the time of transmission or
1231 reception, in case the values are changed by the user.
1233 === ao_radio_set_rdf
1237 ao_radio_set_rdf(void);
1240 Configures the radio to send RDF 'packets'. An RDF 'packet'
1241 is a sequence of hex 0x55 bytes sent at a base bit rate of
1242 2kbps using a 5kHz deviation. All of the error correction
1243 and data whitening logic is turned off so that the resulting
1244 modulation is received as a 1kHz tone by a conventional 70cm
1251 ao_radio_idle(void);
1254 Sets the radio device to idle mode, waiting until it reaches
1255 that state. This will terminate any in-progress transmit or
1265 Acquires the radio mutex and then configures the radio
1266 frequency using the global radio calibration and channel
1276 Releases the radio mutex.
1282 ao_radio_abort(void);
1285 Aborts any transmission or reception process by aborting the
1286 associated DMA object and calling ao_radio_idle to terminate
1287 the radio operation.
1291 In telemetry mode, you can send or receive a telemetry
1292 packet. The data from receiving a packet also includes the RSSI
1293 and status values supplied by the receiver. These are added
1294 after the telemetry data.
1300 ao_radio_send(__xdata struct ao_telemetry *telemetry);
1303 This sends the specific telemetry packet, waiting for the
1304 transmission to complete. The radio must have been set to
1305 telemetry mode. This function calls ao_radio_get() before
1306 sending, and ao_radio_put() afterwards, to correctly
1307 serialize access to the radio device.
1313 ao_radio_recv(__xdata struct ao_radio_recv *radio);
1316 This blocks waiting for a telemetry packet to be received.
1317 The radio must have been set to telemetry mode. This
1318 function calls ao_radio_get() before receiving, and
1319 ao_radio_put() afterwards, to correctly serialize access
1320 to the radio device. This returns non-zero if a packet was
1321 received, or zero if the operation was aborted (from some
1322 other task calling ao_radio_abort()).
1324 === Radio Direction Finding
1326 In radio direction finding mode, there's just one function to
1333 ao_radio_rdf(int ms);
1336 This sends an RDF packet lasting for the specified amount
1337 of time. The maximum length is 1020 ms.
1339 === Radio Packet Mode
1341 Packet mode is asymmetrical and is configured at compile time
1342 for either master or slave mode (but not both). The basic I/O
1343 functions look the same at both ends, but the internals are
1344 different, along with the initialization steps.
1346 ==== ao_packet_putchar
1350 ao_packet_putchar(char c);
1353 If the output queue is full, this first blocks waiting for
1354 that data to be delivered. Then, queues a character for
1355 packet transmission. On the master side, this will
1356 transmit a packet if the output buffer is full. On the
1357 slave side, any pending data will be sent the next time
1358 the master polls for data.
1360 ==== ao_packet_pollchar
1364 ao_packet_pollchar(void);
1367 This returns a pending input character if available,
1368 otherwise returns AO_READ_AGAIN. On the master side, if
1369 this empties the buffer, it triggers a poll for more data.
1371 ==== ao_packet_slave_start
1375 ao_packet_slave_start(void);
1378 This is available only on the slave side and starts a task
1379 to listen for packet data.
1381 ==== ao_packet_slave_stop
1385 ao_packet_slave_stop(void);
1388 Disables the packet slave task, stopping the radio receiver.
1390 ==== ao_packet_slave_init
1394 ao_packet_slave_init(void);
1397 Adds the packet stdio functions to the stdio package so
1398 that when packet slave mode is enabled, characters will
1399 get send and received through the stdio functions.
1401 ==== ao_packet_master_init
1405 ao_packet_master_init(void);
1408 Adds the 'p' packet forward command to start packet mode.