Skip to Content

Low Power Application on SAM L10 Using MPLAB® Harmony v3 Peripheral Libraries: Step 2

Last modified by Microchip on 2023/11/09 09:09

Configure Real-Time Clock (RTC) Peripheral Library

 Under the bottom left Device Resources tab, expand Harmony > Peripherals > RTC.
Double-click or drag and drop RTC to add the RTC Peripheral Library (PLIB) to the project graph.

RTC Adding

Back to top

In Clock Easy View, verify the RTC clock is set to run at 1 kHz internal ultra-low-power clock.

When a module is added to the project graph, MPLAB® Harmony Configurator (MHC) automatically enables the clock to the module. The default RTC clock source is an internal 1 kHz ultra-low-power clock (OSCULP1K).

RTC clock source is an internal 1 kHz ultra-low-power clock (OSCULP1K)​​​​​​

On the SAM L10 device, the RTC can be clocked through several low power clock sources of 1 kHz and 32 kHz. The 1 kHz clock source retained (OSCULP1K) is enough to generate time periods of 500 milliseconds, 1 second, 2 seconds, and 4 seconds.

Back to top

Go back to the project graph and configure the RTC PLIB to generate a compare interrupt every 500 milliseconds.

configure the RTC PLIB to generate a compare interrupt every 500 milliseconds

The Compare Value is set as 0x200. This compare value generates an RTC compare interrupt every 500 milliseconds

  • RTC clock = 1024 Hz
  • RTC Prescaler = 1
  • Required Interrupt rate = 500 ms

Hence, Compare Value = (500/1000) x 1024 = 512 (i.e., 0x200).

Back to top

Configure I²C Peripheral Library, I²C Pins, and Verify I²C Clock

Under the Device Resources tab, expand Harmpony > Peripherals > SERCOM.

Double-click on SERCOM1 to add the SERCOM instance 1 to the project.

SERCOM selection

Select the SERCOM 1 Peripheral Library and configure it for the I²C protocol.

SERCOM setup​​​​​​

  • The SERCOM1 (as I²C) retains the default 100 kHz speed because the temperature sensor chip on I/O1 Xplained Pro Extension Kit can operate at 100 kHz I²C speed.
  • The SERCOM1 (as I²C) retains the default 50-100 nanoseconds hold time for Serial Data (SDA) Hold Time because it aligns with the minimum (50 nanoseconds) start hold time in the specification of the temperature sensor chip (AT30TSE758).
  • The SERCOM1 (as I²C) retains the default 100 nanoseconds for I2C Trise time because it aligns with the maximum (300 nanoseconds) input rise time in the specification of the temperature sensor chip (AT30TSE758).

Back to top

Open the Pin Configuration tab by clicking MHC > Tools > Pin Configuration.

​​​​​​Open Pin Configuration

Back to top

Select the Pin Settings tab and sort the entries by Ports names.

​​​​​​SERCOM pins setup

Now, select the Pin Table tab and then scroll down to the SERCOM1 module as follows:

  • Enable I²C Clock (TWI_SCL)(SERCOM1_PAD1) on PA17 (Pin #18)
  • Enable I²C Data (TWI_SDA)(SERCOM1_PAD0) on PA16 (Pin #17)

​​​​​​SERCOM pins setup enabled pins

Back to top

In Clock Easy View, open the Peripheral Clock Configuration by clicking on the button Peripheral Clock Configuration.

Peripheral Clock Configuration​​​​​​

Once the window is opened, scroll down to the SERCOM1_CORE peripheral and select GCLK0 (12 MHz) as the source clock to generate the peripheral clock frequency.

scroll down to the SERCOM1_CORE peripheral and select GCLK0 (12 MHz) as the source clock to generate the peripheral clock frequency​​​​​​

When a peripheral is added to the project, the peripheral clock is automatically fed by the GCLK0. However, you must configure the peripheral clocks according to your needs (power consumption, performance, …).

This completes the configuration of the I²C peripheral library. The application code will use the I²C PLIB Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to read the temperature from the temperature sensor.

Back to top

Configure Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (USART) Peripheral Library, USART Pins, and Verify USART Clock

Under the tab Device Resources tab, expand Harmony > Peripherals > SERCOM.

Double-click on SERCOM0 to add the SERCOM instance 0 to the project.

​​​​SERCOM selection for UART

Associate STDIO tool with SERCOM instance 0 (USART) peripheral by right-clicking on the yellow diamond.

Consumers > STDIO​​​​

stdio linked

Select the SERCOM0 Peripheral Library in the Project Graph, verify default SERCOM Operation Mode configuration is set as USART, and configure it.

Select the SERCOM0 Peripheral Library in the Project Graph, verify default SERCOM Operation Mode configuration is set as USART and configure it​​​​

Verify the default baud rate is set to 115200 Hz.

Note: In this lab, the SERCOM0 (as USART) interrupt is disabled as the application does not need a callback on USART transfer complete. A USART transmit buffer empty event triggers the DMA to transfer one byte of data from source (user buffer) to destination (USART Tx register). When all the requested bytes are transmitted, the DMA PLIB notifies the application by calling the registered DMA callback event handler.

Back to top

Select the Pin Table tab and then scroll down to the SERCOM0 module as follows.

  • Enable USART_TX (SERCOM0_PAD2) on PA24 (Pin #23)
  • Enable USART_RX (SERCOM0_PAD3) on PA25 (Pin #24)

UART SERCOM PinS setup​​​

Back to top

In Clock Easy View, open the Peripheral Clock Configuration by clicking on the button Peripheral Clock Configuration.

open the Peripheral Clock Configuration​​​

Once the window is opened, scroll down to the SERCOM0_CORE peripheral and select GCLK0 (12 MHz) as the source clock to generate the peripheral clock frequency.

select GCLK0 (12 MHz) as the source clock to generate the peripheral clock frequency

Back to top

Configure DMA Peripheral Library

Launch DMA Configurator by going to the MHC tab in MPLAB X IDE and then selecting Tools > DMA Configuration.

open DMA configuration

Back to top

Click on the DMA Settings tab. Configure DMA Channel 0 to transfer the application buffer to the USART TX register. The DMA transfers one byte from the user buffer to the USART transmit buffer on each trigger.

Based on the trigger source, the DMA channel configuration is automatically set by MCC.

  • Trigger Action: Action taken by DMA on receiving a trigger.
    • One beat transfer: Generally used during a memory-to-peripheral or peripheral-to-memory transfer.
    • One block transfer: Generally used during the memory-to-memory transfer on a software trigger.
  • Source Address Mode, Destination Address Mode: Select whether to increment Source/Destination Address after every transfer. Automatically set by MCC based on the trigger type. For example:
    • If the trigger source is USART transmit, then the Source Address is incremented, and the Destination Address is fixed.
    • If the trigger source is USART receive, then the Source Address is fixed, and the Destination Address is incremented.
  • Beat Size: Size of one beat. The default value is 8-bits. For example:
    • If the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) peripheral is configured for 16-bit/32-bit mode, then the beat size must be set to 16-bits/32-bits respectively.

Click on Add Channel to add the DMA channel and configure the DMA channel.

SERCOM DMA setup

USART transmit buffer empty event triggers the DMA to transfer one byte of data from source (user buffer) to destination (USART Tx register). When all the requested bytes are transmitted, DMA PLIB notifies the application by calling the registered DMA callback event handler.

Back to top