Atmel AVR Tutorial

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Reginald
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Atmel AVR Tutorial

Post by Reginald » Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:28 pm

AVR - Step 1
The first step in the development of any micrcontroller is to know about its architecture and instruction set. So i advice you all to keep a copy of instruction set and architecture manual. You can download them from the link below.
AVR Instruction Set (User Guide, 150 pages)
Architecture Manual or Datasheet for your AVR Microcontroller

The above document will help you to get familiar with the instruction set and to know about your AVR in a better way.
After this, we now have to decide the IDE on which you are going to work or write program for your AVR. I advice you to use AVR Studio 4 from Atmel Corporation, which is a free IDE for AVR and it has many features like programming, debugging etc.
You can get your free copy of AVR studio from link below.
AVR Studio 4.12 (build 460) (45 MB, updated 11/05) - Registration needed
AVR Studio 4.12 Service Pack 4 (build 498) (25 MB, updated 10/06) - No registration
AVR Studio 4.13 (build 528) (73 MB, updated 03/07) - Registration needed

So you can download any of the copy above as per your need more information about AVR studio can be obtained from
AVR Studio 4

All documents and IDE for writing program is ready.. only thing left is a programmer, with which we are going to program our AVR. As we know almost all AVR comes with ISP (In System Programmable) ports. So you don't need any special hardware to program your AVR. Please see the link below for ISP programmer for AVR.
Download PonyProg - serial device programmer

Interfacing Schematic:
STK200-mini.gif
STK200-mini.gif (17.75 KiB) Viewed 3537 times
Note: Do not forget to run the setup after installing PonyProg.

Setup Information:
In interface setup, select parallel and then from the drop down select AVR ISP I/O.
slect the LPT Port (parallel port) available on your PC. Then click ok!

To load Hex file:
Go to File-> Open Program (FLASH) file
then from the drop down where ".e2p" is show, select ".hex" and load your hex file.

Note: The program i wrote is for ATMEGA8515 and there is not much difference in other AVRs except some has extra features.

AVR - Step 2
Before programming AVR, first you need to know few important programming tips and AVR registers.

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.include "8515def.inc"
There are some special registers like X,Y and Z for 16-Bit operations. They are used to read and write to XRAM. They are also used for reading from program memory like reading from a lookup table (we will discuss about them when we use them). These special registers are actually combination of two 8-bit General purpose registers. i.e. X is actually R26:R27, Y is R28:R29 and Z is R30:R31.
The lower byte of the 16-bit-address is located in the lower register, the higher byte in the upper register. Both parts have their own names, e.g. the higher byte of Z is named as ZH (R31) and the lower Byte is ZL (R30). Similarly for X (XL and XH) and for Y (YL and YH). These names are defined in the standard header file for the chips (which we include while writing program). Dividing these 16-bit-pointer-names into two different bytes is done like follows:

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LDI YH,HIGH(LABEL) ; Set the MSB
LDI YL,LOW(LABEL) ; Set the LSB
where LABEL is address for any lookup table or any memory location.

Some important notes for using registers
  1. Define names for registers with the .DEF directive, never use them with their direct name Rx. This helps you making better use of registers and you will never confuse yourself while using them.
  2. If you need pointer access reserve R26 to R31 for that purpose.
  3. 16-bit-counter are best located R25:R24.
  4. If you need to read from the program memory, e.g. fixed tables, reserve Z (R31:R30) and R0 for that
    purpose.
  5. If you plan to have access to single bits within certain registers (e.g. for testing flags), use R16 to
    R23 for that purpose
Now coming to ports, The information about a specific port of a certain type of AVR can be easily obtained in the AVR Datasheet. Port names are defined in the include file of the CPU..
if you don't have an include file then you can define yourself as..

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.equ PORTA = $1B ;incase of ATmega8515
So if you are not able to find an include file you can use the .EQU directive to define ports and other registers.
Making port as i/p or o/p is purely dependent on data direction register called DDRx (DDRA for port A etc.) The DDxn bit in the DDRx Register selects the direction of this pin. If DDxn is written
logic one, Pxn is configured as an output pin. If DDxn is written logic zero, Pxn is configured
as an input pin.
for writing and reading data to Ports, PORTx registers are there. and to read from ports PINx registers are there.
for example..

writing to port

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.def output = R16
LDI output, $FF
OUT DDRA, output ; making as o/p
LDI output, $00
OUT PORTA, output ; clear all PORTA pins
Reading from port

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.def input = R17
LDI input, $00
OUT DDRA,input
IN input, PINA
We are finished with the basics of AVR, lets try programming with simplest program. Blinking an LED!

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.include "8515def.inc"          ;Include file

        RJMP MAIN                               ;Reset vector

MAIN:
        ldi R16,low(RAMEND)             ;Load stack with
        out SPL,R16                             ;RAMEND - highest value
        ldi R16,high(RAMEND)    ;of internal SRAM
        out SPH,R16
        SBI DDRA,0                              ;Make PORTA Pin 0 as o/p

DO:
        SBI PORTA,0                             ;Set Pin 0 of PORTA
        RCALL DELAY                             ;Wait for some time
        CBI PORTA,0                             ;Cleare Pin 0 of PORTA
        RCALL DELAY                             ;Wait for some time
        RJMP DO                                 ;Forever loop!

DELAY:                                          ;The delay routine
        LDI R16,$20                             ;Load some delay value
LOOP1:
        SER R17                                 ;Make R17 as $FF
LOOP:
        DROBOT.LK R17                                 ;Decrement R17
        BRNE LOOP                               ;Jump if not zero
        DROBOT.LK R16                                 ;Decrement R16
        BRNE LOOP1                              ;Jump if not zero
        RET                                             ;Return
Dealing with load and store instructions of AVR

AVR - Step 3
In this part of tutorial you will learn
  1. Reading from Program memory
  2. Reading from RAM
  3. Writing to RAM
  4. Practice programs
Here is the summary of Load and store instructions that are used for dealing with SRAM of AVR Microcontroller
  1. LD Rn,X/Y/Z
    >either X or Y or Z register can be used
    >this will load the value which is stored in memory location pointed by register X/Y/Z to the destination register Rn (can be R0, R1.. any etc)
  2. LD Rn,X+/Y+/Z+
    >This instruction will load the value which is stored in memory at location pointed by X/Y/Z registers and then increment the memory location by 1
    >This is a post increment instruction
  3. LD Rn, -X/-Y/-Z
    >Load Rn with value stored at location pointed by pre-decrement of address stored in X/Y/Z
  4. LDD Rn,Y/Z+displacement
    >Load Rn with value at address Z or Y + displacement
    >e.g. Z is 0x0090, Displacement is 0x10 so Rn will be loaded with value stored at 0x0090+0x10 = 0x0100
  5. ST X/Y/Z, Rn
    >Store the value of Rn to location pointed by X or Y or Z
  6. ST X+/Y+/Z+, Rn
    >Store the value in Rn to location pointed by X or Y or Z and increment the address pointer
  7. STD Y/Z+displacement, Rn
    >Store the value in Rn to location pointed by Y or Z + Displacement
  8. LDS Rn, SRAM_Address
    >Load value from SRAM Address to the Rn register
    >SRAM Address is the immediate value e.g. LDS R0,0x0100
  9. STS SRAM_Address, Rn
    >Store Rn to immediate SRAM location
To read from Program memory we have special instructions like
  1. LPM
    >Load form program memory, This instruction is used in most of the AVRs and its hard coded in the architecture.
    >This instruction will load R0 with the address specified by register Z [This is hard coded]
  2. LPM Rn, Z
    >Load Rn from program memory pointed by register Z
    >This instruction is not supported by all AVRs e.g ATMega8515, AT90S8515
  3. LPM Rn,Z+
    >Load Rn from program memory and increment the memory location pointed by Z
    >This instruction is also not supported by all AVRs
Note: load from program memory instructions are not supported by all AVR architectures. Most of the architectures support LPM instruction which is hard coded to load R0 from location in Z. where as in some AVR this is also not implemented.

Now we are done with the instructions overview.. now lets practice them..
Program 1: Copy 10 Bytes memory block stored in Program memory(ROM) to Data memory (SRAM)

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;This program is to copy memory block from Program
;memory to AVR RAM (10 Bytes)

.include "8515def.inc"

.org $0
.def Temp = R0                  ;Temprary variable
.def count = R17                ;Byte Count

        ldi ZH,HIGH(2*data)     ;Load Z with address where
        ldi ZL,LOW(2*data)      ;our data is stored
        ldi XL,$60                      ;Load Destination RAM location
        ldi XH,$0
        ldi count,$A            ;Load count 10 Bytes
again:
        lpm                                     ;Load value from program memory
        inc ZL                          ;Increment memory location
        st X+,Temp                      ;Store byte to the RAM location
        dec count                       ;Decrement Count
        brne again                      ;Check if all bytes moved
end:
        rjmp end                        ;End of program

;Our data which we will copy from Program Memory to RAM
Data:
.db $10,$20,$30,$40,$50,$60,$70,$80,$90,$95
In the above code.. you can see while loading the address of program memory location, i multiplied it with 2, i.e. LDI ZH,High(2*Data)
The reason is, the program memory is organized in word manner i.e. two bytes for each command, So the address has to be multiplied by 2. You can try running these programs and see its working in the Simulator of AVR Studio.

Program 2: Find Greatest of 3 numbers Stored in program memory

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;Program to find greatest of 3 numbers
;
;numbers are stored in ROM and the final
;result will be stored in a register

.include "8515def.inc"

.def num1 = r0                  ;Location for First number
.def num2 = r1                  ;Location for second number
.def answer = R2                ;location for Final answer

.org $0
        ldi ZL, Low(2*Data)     ;Load the program memory address
        ldi ZH, High(2*data)

        lpm                                     ;Load first number
        mov num2,num1           ;Move it to num2
        inc ZL                          ;Increment the address
        lpm                                     ;Load second number
        cp num1,num2            ;Compare them
        brlt next                       ;Jump if num1<num2
        mov num2,num1           ;If num1>num2 then move num1
next:                                   ; to num2 location
        inc ZL                          ;Increment the address
        lpm                                     ;Load the third number
        cp num1,num2            ;Again compare
        brlt final                      ;Check if num1<num2
        mov answer,num1         ;If No, then num1 is answer
final:
        mov answer,num2         ;If Yes, then num2 is our answer
end:
        rjmp end                        ;End of program


Data:                                   ;Our 3 numbers
.db $23,$23,$14                 ;Try changing them and see results
Now you can try yourself writing some programs to make yourself more easy with load and store operations.
Here is the list of programs you can try out:
  1. Swap two numbers stored in RAM
  2. Find Greatest of 5 numbers
  3. Copy memory block from RAM to RAM
  4. Sorting of 10 numbers
  5. Clear SRAM area from 0x60 to RAMEND
Program 3: Swap two numbers stored in RAM

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;Program to swap two numbers

.include "8515def.inc"

.def temp = R16 ;Temporary register
.def num1 = R17 ;Number one location
.def num2 = R18 ;Location for second number

.cseg
.org $0

ldi ZH,0x00     ;Assuming the two numbers are stored
ldi ZL,0x90     ;at location 0x0090 in RAM
ld num1,Z+      ;Load first number
ld num2,Z       ;Load second number
mov temp,num1   ;copy num1 to temp
mov num1,num2   ;copy num2 to num1
mov num2,temp   ;copy temp to num2
ldi ZL,0x90     ;load the RAM location back
st Z+,num1      ;store the first number
st Z, num2      ;store the second number
end:
        rjmp end    ;end of prog
Program 4: Find Greatest of 5 numbers

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;Program to find greatest of 5 numbers
;
;numbers are stored in ROM and the final
;result will be stored in a register

.include "8515def.inc"

.def num1 = r0          ;Location for First number
.def num2 = r1          ;Location for second number
.def answer = R2        ;location for Final answer
.def count = r16        ;Count

.org $0
        ldi ZL, Low(2*Data) ;Load the program memory address
        ldi ZH, High(2*data)
        ldi count,4         ;Load count
        lpm                 ;Load first number
        mov num2,num1       ;Move it to num2
        adiw Z,1
again:
        lpm                 ;Load second number
        cp num1,num2        ;Compare them
        brlt next           ;Jump if num1<num2
        mov num2,num1       ;If num1>num2 then move num1
next:                   ; to num2 location
        adiw Z,1            ;Increment the address
        dec count           ;are we done with all 5 numbers?
        brne again          ;if no then jump back
final:
        mov answer,num2     ;If Yes, then num2 is our answer
end:
        rjmp end            ;End of program

;Try changing them and see results
Data:                   ;Our 5 numbers
.db $3,$23,$14,$50,$20,$0
;last zero is to aligh the bytes in word manner
;we have 5 numbers so i am padding with a 0 to make it
;even. if we dont't do this.. compiler will do it
;automatically to prevent misalignment.
Program 5: Copy memory block from RAM to RAM

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;Program to copy a block of memory (10 Bytes)
; from one RAM location to another RAM location.

.include "8515def.inc"

.def temp = r0
.def count = r16

.org 0
        ldi ZL,0x60   ;Lets fill the RAM with some numbers
        ldi ZH,0x00   ;to copy, so we can check is it working
        ldi count,10  ;Load count
fill:
        st Z+,count   ;Store value to RAM location
        dec count
        brne fill

        ldi ZL,0x60   ;Load memory location to copy from
        ldi ZH,0x00
        ldi YL,0x90   ;Load destination memory location
        ldi YH,0x00
        ldi count,10  ;Load count

copy:
        ld temp,Z+    ;Load value to temporary register
        st Y+,temp    ;Store it to location
        dec count     ;decrement counter
        brne copy

end:
        rjmp end      ;End of program...
Program 6: Sorting of 10 numbers

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;Program to sort 10 numbers 
;in ascending order
;10 numbers are stored in ROM
;and sorted answer is stored in RAM
;at location 0x0060

.include "8515def.inc"

.def count1 = r17     ;First Count
.def count2 = r18     ;Second count
.def temp = r0        ;Temp reg for swap
.def num1 = r1        ;Num 1
.def num2 = r2        ;Num 2

.cseg                 ;Code segment starts
.org 0
ldi Zh,high(2*mydata) ;Load memory add where
ldi Zl,low(2*mydata)  ;data is stored in ROM
ldi Yh,0x00           ;Destination location
ldi Yl,0x60           ;0x0060 in RAM
ldi count1,10         ;Load count

copy:
lpm                   ;Load from program mem
st Y+,temp            ;Store it to RAM
adiw Z,1              ;Increment Z
dec count1            ;Decrement counter
brne copy             ;copy all 10 bytes

ldi ZH,0x00           ;Load first pointer
ldi ZL,0x60
ldi count1,10         ;Load counter for it

sort:
        mov YL,ZL         ;Load second pointer
        mov YH,ZH
        adiw Y,1          ;Increment it
        ld num1,Z         ;load first number
        mov count2,count1 ;load count2
        subi count2,1     ;Count2 = Count1-1
        breq end          ;end if last num

again:
        ld num2,Y         ;Load second number
        cp num1,num2      ;Compare them
        brlo next         ;Jump if num1<num2
        mov temp,num2
        mov num2,num1     ;If num1>num2 then swap
        mov num1,temp
        st Z,num1         ;and store them on their
        st Y,num2         ;respective locations
next:                  
        adiw Y,1          ;Increment the address
        dec count2        ;dec count2 for Y pointer
        brne again        ;check if count is zero
        adiw Z,1          ;increment Z pointer
        dec count1        ;Dec count1 for Z pointer
        brne sort         ;finish if zero

end:
        rjmp end          ;End of program

mydata:
.db $10,$90,$50,$20,$91,$23,$55,$62,$39,$80
Program 7: Clear SRAM area from 0x60 to RAMEND

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;Program to clear RAM
;this program is for ATMega8515 So ram area is from
;0x60 to RAMEND

.include "8515def.inc"

.def temp = r16      ;Temporary variable
.def cnth = r25      ;Counter High byte
.def cntl = r24      ;Counter Low byte

.org 0

        ldi cnth,0x02    ;Load count 0x200 to clear
        ldi cntl,0x00    ;memory from 0x00 to 0x1FF
        clr temp         ;clear temp
        ldi ZH,0x00      ;Load starting address of
        ldi ZL,0x60      ;RAM 0x0060 in Z pointer

clrram:
        st Z+,temp       ;Store 0 in current Z location
        sbiw cnth:cntl,1 ;Decrement the counter
        brne clrram      ;end if zero
       
end:
        rjmp end         ;End of program
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