Lecture # 05M:

System Clock Options

Dr. Md. Rukonuzzaman

Associate Professor, Department of EEE
American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Introduction:
Oscillating Options:
Every microcontroller needs a clock source. The CPU, the memory bus, the
peripherals—clock signals are everywhere inside a microcontroller. They govern the
speed at which the processor executes instructions, the baud rate of serial
communication signals, the amount of time needed to perform an analog-to-digital
conversion, and so much more.
All these clocking actions go back to the source of the clock signal, namely the oscillator.
Therefore, the oscillator must be able to provide the desired performance from the
microcontroller. Though some oscillator options are more complex or expensive than
others, the choice of oscillator should reflect the importance of reducing cost and
complexity whenever possible. CPU clock speed is a good indicator of the
processor’s performance. In general, a higher clock speed means a faster CPU. A
CPU with a clock speed of 3.2 GHz executes 3.2 billion cycles per second.
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Introduction:
There are quite a few ways to generate a clock signal for a microcontroller.
The datasheet of the microcontroller should provide a good deal of information
about what types of oscillators can be used and how to implement them in a
way that is compatible with its hardware. There are some advantages and
disadvantages of various clock sources and thus it is needed to choose the
best one among the oscillator options available for a particular microcontroller.
There are two broad types of oscillators- internal and external.
Internal
A resistor-capacitor circuit (R-C phase shift oscillator circuit)
Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) for frequency multiplication
External
CMOS clock, crystal oscillator, ceramic resonator oscillator, resistor-capacitor
oscillator,
25 February 2024 capacitor-only oscillator, etc.
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Block Diagram:
The block diagram
represents the principal
clock systems in the AVR
and their distribution.
All the clocks need not be
active at a given time.
To reduce power
consumption, the clocks to
modules not being used
can be halted by using
different sleep modes.

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Clock Sources:
The device has the following clock source options, selectable by Flash Fuse
bits as shown. The clock from the selected source is input to the AVR clock
generator and routed to the appropriate modules

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Default clock source:
The device is shipped with an internal RC oscillator at 8 MHz and the fuse
CKDIV8 programmed, resulting in a 1 MHz system clock.
The start-up time (SUT) is set to maximum, and the time-out period is enabled
(CKSEL = "0010", SUT = "10", CKDIV8 = "0"). The default setting ensures that
all users can make their desired clock source setting using any available
programming interface.
The term “overclocking” refers to speeding up the CPU clock for more
processing power. Intel CPUs with a “K” in the name have an unlocked
“multiplier” for easy overclocking when paired with a motherboard chipset that
supports overclocking.
Overclocking can yield improved FPS, even for high-end CPUs like the latest
Intel® Core i9 processor.
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Low Power Crystal Oscillator:
Pins XTAL1 and XTAL2 are input and output respectively of an inverting
amplifier, which can be configured for use as an on-chip oscillator.

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Full swing Crystal Oscillator:
This crystal oscillator is a full swing oscillator, with a rail-to-rail swing on the
XTAL2 output. This is useful for driving other clock inputs in a noisy
environment.

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Low frequency Crystal Oscillator:
The low-frequency crystal oscillator is optimized for use with a 32.768 kHz
watch crystal. When selecting crystals, the load capacitance and the
crystal’s Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) must be taken into
consideration. Both values are specified by the crystal vendor.
ATmega48P/88P/168P/328P oscillator is optimized for very low power consumption, and thus when selecting
crystals, for maximum ESR, recommended load capacitances, CL are 6.5 pF, 9.0 pF, and 12.5 pF for crystals

Note:251.February
This2024
option should only be used if frequency stability at start-up is not important for the application
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Low-Frequency Crystal Oscillator:
The low-frequency crystal oscillator provides an internal load capacitance of a typical
6 pF at each TOSC pin. The external capacitance (C) needed at each TOSC pin can
be calculated by using:
C = 2*CL - CS where CL is the load capacitance for a 32.768 kHz crystal specified by the
crystal vendor and CS is the total stray capacitance for one TOSC pin.
Crystals specifying load capacitance (CL) higher than 6 pF, require external capacitors
to be applied. The low-frequency crystal oscillator must be selected by setting the
CKSEL fuses to “0110” or “0111”. Start-up times are determined by the SUT fuses.

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Calibrated Internal RC Oscillator:
By default, the internal RC oscillator provides an approximate 8 MHz clock. Though
voltage and temperature dependent, this clock can be very accurately calibrated by the
user. The device is shipped with the CKDIV8 Fuse programmed. This clock may be
selected as the system clock by programming the CKSEL Fuses.

When this Oscillator is selected, start-up times are determined by the SUT Fuses.
If selected, it will operate with no external components. During reset, the hardware loads
the pre-programmed calibration value into the OSCCAL Register and thereby
automatically calibrates the RC oscillator.
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128 kHz Internal Oscillator:
The 128 kHz internal oscillator is a low-power oscillator providing a clock of 128 kHz.
The frequency is nominal at 3 V and 25°C. This clock may be selected as the system
clock by programming the CKSEL Fuses to “11”.

When this clock source is selected, start-up times are determined by the SUT Fuses.

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External Clock:
To drive the device from an external clock source, XTAL1 should be driven as follows-

To run the device on an external clock, the CKSEL Fuses must be programmed to “0000”

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Timer/Counter Oscillator:
• ATmega48P/88P/168P/328P uses the same crystal oscillator for the Low-
frequency oscillator and Timer/Counter oscillator.
• ATmega48P/88P/168P/328P share the Timer/Counter Oscillator Pins
(TOSC1 and TOSC2) with XTAL1 and XTAL2 respectively.
• When using the Timer/Counter Oscillator, the system clock needs to be four
times the oscillator frequency. Due to this and the pin sharing, the
Timer/Counter Oscillator can only be used when the calibrated internal RC
oscillator is selected as the system clock source.
• Applying an external clock source to TOSC1 can be done if EXTCLK in the
ASSR Register is written to logic one. An external clock is selected as
input instead of a 32.768 kHz watch crystal.
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System Clock Pre-Scalar:
• The ATmega48P/88P/168P/328P has a system clock Pre-scaler, and the system
clock can be divided by setting the ”CLKPR – Clock Pre-scaler Register”.
• This feature can be used to decrease the system clock frequency and power
consumption when the requirement for processing power is low.
• This can be used with all clock source options, and it will affect the clock frequency
of the CPU and all synchronous peripherals.

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Register Description:
• CLKPR-Clock Pre-scaler Register

• Bit 7 – CLKPCE: Clock Pre-scaler Change Enable

The CLKPCE bit must be written to logic one to enable the change of the
CLKPS bits. The CLKPCE bit is only updated when the other bits in CLKPR
are simultaneously written to zero. CLKPCE is cleared by hardware four
cycles after it is written or when CLKPS bits are written. Rewriting the
CLKPCE bit within this time-out period does neither extend the time-out
period nor clear the CLKPCE bit.
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Register Description:
• CLKPR-Clock Pre-scaler Register

• Bits 3..0 – CLKPS3..0: Clock Pre-scaler Select Bits 3 - 0

These bits define the division factor between the selected clock source and
the internal system clock. These bits can be written run-time to vary the clock
frequency to suit the application requirements. As the divider divides the
master clock input to the MCU, the speed of all synchronous peripherals
is reduced when a division factor is used.
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Register Description: Clock Pre-Scaler Select

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Power Management and Sleep Modes:
Power consumption is a critical issue for a device running continuously for a
long time without being turned off. So, to overcome this problem almost every
controller comes with a Sleep Mode, which helps developers to design
electronic gadgets. Sleep mode puts the device in power-saving mode
optimal power consumption by turning off the unused modules.

An Arduino Sleep mode is also referred to as Arduino Power Save Mode or

Arduino Standby Mode.

Arduino UNO, Arduino Nano, and Pro-mini come with ATmega328P and it has
a Brown-Out Detector (BOD), which monitors the supply voltage at the time
of Sleep Mode.
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Power Management and Sleep Modes:
Sleep modes enable the application to shut down unused modules in the
MCU, thereby saving power. The AVR provides various sleep modes allowing
the user to tailor the power consumption to the application’s requirements.
There are six sleep modes in ATmega328P:

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Power Management and Sleep Modes:

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Register Description:
SMCR – Sleep Mode Control Register
The Sleep Mode Control Register (SMCR) contains control bits for power management.
The function of these bits (SM2:0) is shown in the next slide.
For entering into any of the sleep modes, we need to enable the sleep bit in the Sleep Mode
Control Register (SMCR.SE). Then, the Sleep Mode Select bits select any 1 of the sleep
modes among 6 different sleep modes, viz. Idle, ADC Noise Reduction, Power-Down,
Power-Save, Standby, and External Standby.
An internal or external Arduino interrupt or a Reset can wake up the Arduino from sleep
mode.

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Register Description:

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Idle Mode:
For entering into the Idle sleep mode, write the SM[2,0] bits of the controller
‘000’. This mode stops the CPU but allows the SPI, 2-wire serial interface,
USART, Watchdog, counters, and analog comparator to operate.
Idle mode basically stops the CLKCPU and CLKFLASH.
Arduino can be waked up at any time by using external or internal interrupts.

Arduino Code for Idle Sleep Mode:

LowPower.idle(SLEEP_8S, ADC_OFF, TIMER2_OFF, TIMER1_OFF,

TIMER0_OFF, SPI_OFF, USART0_OFF, TWI_OFF);

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ADC Noise Reduction Mode:
To use this sleep mode, write the SM[2,0] bit to ‘001’. The mode stops the
CPU but allows the ADC, external interrupt, USART, 2-wire serial interface,
Watchdog, and counters to operate. ADC Noise Reduction mode basically
stops the CLKCPU, CLKI/O, and CLKFLASH. We can wake up the controller
from the ADC Noise Reduction mode by the following methods:
▪ External Reset
▪ Watchdog System Reset
▪ Watchdog Interrupt
▪ Brown-out Reset
▪ 2-wire Serial Interface address match
▪ External level interrupt on INT
▪ Pin change interrupt
▪ Timer/Counter interrupt
▪ SPM/EEPROM ready interrupt
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Power-Down Mode:
Power-Down Mode stops all the generated clocks and allows only the
operation of asynchronous modules. It can be enabled by writing the SM[2,0]
bits to ‘010’. In this mode, the external oscillator turns OFF, but the 2-wire
serial interface, watchdog, and external interrupt continue to operate. It can
be disabled by only one of the methods below:
▪ External Reset
▪ Watchdog System Reset
▪ Watchdog Interrupt
▪ Brown-out Reset
▪ 2-wire Serial Interface address match
▪ External level interrupt on INT
▪ Pin change interrupt

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Standard Low Power Example:
This is the simplest way of implementing the Low Power mode. It will use the LED
as an indicator to tell if the device is in an active state or sleep state. The device will
be in a sleep state for 5 seconds.
#include "ArduinoLowPower.h" Here we can also change a line of the
code to perform the Deep Sleep
void setup() { mode of the device.
pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT); }
void loop() { //LowPower.sleep(5000);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH); LowPower.deepSleep(5000);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);
delay(1000);
LowPower.sleep(5000);
}
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Low Power-Power Down Mode Example:
In this sketch, the Arduino blinks an LED for 2 s and is then powered down for 2 s,
and during that time the ADC and Brown-Out Detect (BOD) are disabled. When
powered down, the Arduino's current drops from 14 mA, down to just 6 mA!
#include "LowPower.h"
Let’s load this sketch onto our Arduino,
void setup() { which is running with a 5 V supply at
pinMode(13,OUTPUT);
}
16 MHz. To see how little current is
needed in sleep mode, we are using an
void loop() { Arduino ATmega328P board to
digitalWrite(13,HIGH);
minimize the current.
delay(2000);
digitalWrite(13,LOW);
LowPower.powerDown(SLEEP_2S, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF);
}
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Arduino Code for Power-Down Periodic Mode:
LowPower.powerDown(SLEEP_8S, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF);
The code is used to turn on the power-down mode. By using the above code, the Arduino will go
to sleep for eight seconds and wake up automatically.
We can also use the power-down mode with an interrupt, where the Arduino will go to sleep but
only wakes up when an external or internal interrupt is provided.
Arduino Code for Power-Down Interrupt Mode:
void loop() {
// Allow the wake-up pin to trigger an interrupt on low.
attachInterrupt(0, wakeUp, LOW);
LowPower.powerDown(SLEEP_FOREVER, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF);
// Disable external pin interrupt on the wake-up pin.
detachInterrupt(0);
// Do something here
}
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Power-Save Mode: To enter the power-save mode, we need to write the SM[2,0] pin
to ‘011’. This sleep mode is like the power-down mode, only with one exception i.e.,
if the timer/counter is enabled, it will remain in a running state even at the time of
sleep. The device can be waked up by using the timer overflow bit, TOVn.
If you are not using the time/counter, it is recommended to use Power-down mode
instead of power-save mode.
Standby Mode: The standby mode is identical to the Power-Down mode, the only
difference in between them is the external oscillator kept running in this mode. For
enabling this mode, write the SM[2,0] pin to ‘110’.
Extended Standby Mode: This mode is like the power-save mode only with one
exception that the oscillator is kept running. The device will enter the Extended
Standby mode when we write the SM[2,0] pin to ‘111’. The device will take six clock
cycles to wake up from the extended standby mode.
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Practical Application with a DHT11 Sensor:
Below are the requirements for this project, after connecting the
DHT11 Sensor
circuit as per the circuit diagram. Upload the sleep mode code
into Arduino using Arduino IDE. Arduino will enter idle sleep
mode. Then check the current consumption into the USB
ammeter. Else, you can also use a clamp meter for the same.
In this setup, to demonstrate Arduino Deep sleep
modes, the Arduino is plugged into the USB
ammeter. Then the USB ammeter is plugged
into the USB port of the laptop.
The data pin of the DHT11 sensor is attached to
the D2 pin of the Arduino.
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Code Explanation
The code starts by including the library for the DHT11 sensor and the Low Power
library. For downloading the Low Power library follow the link
(https://github.com/rocketscream/Low-Power).
Then we defined the Arduino pin number to which the data pin of the DHT11 is
connected and created a DHT object.

#include <dht.h>
#include <LowPower.h>

#define dataPin 2
dht DHT;
USB Ammeter
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Code Explanation
In the void setup function, we have initiated the serial communication by using
serial.begin(9600), here the 9600 is the baud rate. We are using Arduino’s built-in
LED as an indicator for the sleep mode. So, we have set the pin as OUTPUT and sent
a LOW signal to this pin using the digitalWrite() command.

void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);
}

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Code Explanation
In the void loop function, we are making the built-in LED HIGH and the reading the
temperature and humidity data from the sensor. Here, DHT.read11(); command is
reading the data from the sensor. Once data is calculated, we can check the values by
saving them into any variable. Here, we have taken two float type variables ‘t’ and
‘h’. Hence, the temperature and humidity data is printed serially on the serial monitor.

void loop() {
Serial.println("Get Data From DHT11");
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);
int readData = DHT.read11(dataPin); // DHT11
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Code Explanation
float t = DHT.temperature;
float h = DHT.humidity;

Serial.print("Temperature = ");
Serial.print(t);
Serial.print(" C | ");

Serial.print("Humidity = ");
Serial.print(h);
Serial.println(" % ");

delay(2000);
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Code Explanation
Before enabling the sleep mode, we are printing "Arduino:- I am going for a Nap"
and making the built-in LED LOW. After that, Arduino sleep mode is enabled by
using the command mentioned below in the code.

The below code enables the idle periodic sleep mode of the Arduino and gives a sleep
of eight seconds. It turns the ADC, Timers, SPI, USART, and 2-wire interface into the
OFF condition.

Then, it automatically wakes up Arduino from sleep after 8 seconds and prints
“Arduino:- Hey I just Woke up”.

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Code Explanation
Serial.println("Arduino:- I am going for a Nap");
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN,LOW);
LowPower.idle(SLEEP_8S, ADC_OFF, TIMER2_OFF, TIMER1_OFF, TIMER0_OFF,
SPI_OFF, USART0_OFF, TWI_OFF);
Serial.println("Arduino:- Hey I just Woke up");
Serial.println("");
delay(2000);
}
So, by using this code Arduino will only wake up for 24 (6×4 times of the loop) seconds in a
minute and will remain in sleep mode for the rest of the 36 (= 60 – 24) seconds, which
significantly reduces the power consumed by the Arduino weather station. Therefore, if we use
the Arduino with the sleep mode, we can approximately double the device runtime.
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Experimental Setup with USB Ammeter
USB ammeter is a plug-and-play device used to measure the voltage and current from any USB
port. The dongle plugs in between the USB power supply (computer USB port) and the USB
device (Arduino). This device has a 0.05 W resistor in-line with the power pin through which it
measures the value of the current drawn. The device comes with four seven-segment displays,
which instantly display the values of current and voltage consumed by the attached device.
These values flip in an interval of every 3 seconds.

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PRR: Power Reduction Register:

➢ Bit 7 - PRTWI: Power Reduction TWI

➢ Bit 6 - PRTIM2: Power Reduction Timer/Counter2
➢ Bit 5 - PRTIM0: Power Reduction Timer/Counter0
➢ Bit 4 - Res: Reserved bit
➢ Bit 3 - PRTIM1: Power Reduction Timer/Counter1
➢ Bit 2 - PRSPI: Power Reduction Serial Peripheral Interface
➢ Bit 1 - PRUSART0: Power Reduction USART0
➢ Bit 0 - PRADC: Power Reduction ADC
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 Thanks for Attending….
?

(6) Reducing Arduino's Power Consumption Part 1 – YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktvUunBQQD0

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