TinyTuner is a library for tuning the internal oscillator on AVR processors.
Thank you to Atmel for the motivation and oPossum (Kevin Timmerman) for the inspiration...
http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?t=5078
Introduction
Some stand-alone projects don't need a highly accurate processor clock and can benefit from a reduced component count. Using the internal oscillator is a perfect fit. The only problem with the internal oscillator is that, from the factory, it can be up to 10% off. For most applications, a 10% error in the clock is a problem. For example, the highest serial baud rate that can be reached when the clock is 4.5% off is 19200. An application that needs a baud rate of 57600 isn't going to work.
Techniques
There are a few different methods for tuning the internal oscillator. These are the two I've tried...
http://atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc2555.pdf
http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?t=5078
I had no luck with the AVR053 method. At one point, my ATtiny2313 processor stopped working (meaning the processor would not execute instructions when powered; yikes!). I have no idea what I did wrong or how I got the processor back to life. For someone (like me) who dislikes assembly and has never compiled an assembly source file, this method is, in the best case, very annoying.
I have not actually tried the oPossum for one reason: assembly. Inspired by the idea to use a serial connection to tune the processor, I decided to create something that was more Arduino friendly.
Overview
The idea is simple: Use the AVR processor to measure the time of some serial data. If the serial data is accurately clocked (and generally it is) it is possible to adjust the internal oscillator until the measured time matches the expected time. The core of the technique is TimeNineBits. This function waits until a start bit arrives then counts until a stop bit arrives. If the count is too high, the processor is running too fast. If the count is too low, the processor is running too slow.
Using
The Tiny84Tuner class is included for tuning an ATtiny84 processor using pin 0 (PB0). Connect anything to pin 0 that accurately outputs a lowercase 'x' at 9600 baud. Ensure the ATtiny84 processor is using the internal oscillator. Add something like this to a Sketch...
#include <TinyTuner.h>
void Tune( void )
{
Tiny84Tuner tt;
bool KeepGoing = true;
while ( KeepGoing )
{
KeepGoing = tt.update();
// Optionally provide feedback here
}
// At this point, OSCCAL is set to the optimal value
}
When Tune returns, OSCCAL is set to the optimal value. This value can be saved to EEPROM, output to a terminal using NewSoftSerial, or used as-is.
For other processors, it is necessary to create a class instance using the TinyTuner template. The syntax looks like this...
TinyTuner<0x16,0x00> tt;
"0x16" is the PIN register and "0x00" is the bit within the register. This pair of values defines the pin where the serial data arrives and can be determined from the processor's datasheet. (I apologize for not supporting Arduino pin numbers nor the GCC #defines.) "tt" is used like in the example above.
The ZIP package includes three example Sketches. All three use Tiny84Tuner. Interactive_with_NewSoftSerial is intended to be used interactively. As a human sends each 'x', a status message is sent back. The final result is the OSCCAL register value.
Save_to_EEPROM blinks an LED as each 'x' is processed. When the optimal value is reached, the value is written to address zero in EEPROM, the LED is lit solid, and the Sketch stops running. Read_from_EEPROM simply reads the value from EEPROM address zero and outputs it to a terminal using NewSoftSerial.
Warnings
If no 'x' characters are sent, TimeNineBits never returns. TimeNineBits will very likely fail or not return if something other than 'x' is sent.
Interrupts are left enabled until just a bit too late. This allows TimeNineBits to potentially be used side-by-side with other interrupt driven code (like Servo). There is a slight possibility that an interrupt will occur just past the start bit which will throw off the timing. As far as I can tell, Tiny Tuner recovers when this happens.
Typically, the optimal value can be determined within a few iterations. For various reasons, the target value and the two values on each side are sampled three times to ensure the target value really is optimal. The total number of iterations is usually 10 (but can be more).
TimeNineBits runs at 8 MHz regardless of the fuse settings. The processor speed is restored after TimeNineBits completes. This is required to make an accurate measurement; 1 MHz just doesn't cut it.
Small variations in temperature have a very small but measurable effect on the internal oscillator.
Small variations in supply voltage have a small but measurable effect on the internal oscillator.
While I have carefully researched and thoroughly tested this library is WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.
Availability
A ZIP package is available here...
http://arduino-tiny.googlecode.com/files/TinyTuner-0001.zip
The source code is here...
http://code.google.com/p/arduino-tiny/source/browse/#svn/trunk/libraries/TinyTuner
License
This library is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License.
Comments, opinions, minor harassments, and success stories welcome.