NTPClient_Generic Library to get time from NTP servers

khoih-prog · October 29, 2020, 2:14am

How To Install Using Arduino Library Manager

Why do we need this NTPClient_Generic Library

The NTPClient_Generic Library is designed to work in conjunction with the Arduino Time Library, which must also be installed on your system. This documentation assumes some familiarity with the Time library.

The primary goal of the NTPClient_Generic Library is to enable the creation of an NTPClient to connect to NTP time-servers to get time and keep local time in sync. For ESP8266/ESP32, nRF52, SAMD21/SAMD51, STM32F/L/H/G/WB/MP1, Teensy, etc. besides AVR, using ESP WiFi, WiFiNINA, Ethernet W5x00, ENC28J60, LAN8742A, ESP8266/ESP32 AT-command WiFi. But whether hardware RTC or another time-keeping source is present is not mandatory, since the Time Library can function as a software RTC without additional hardware (although its accuracy is dependent on the accuracy of the microcontroller's system clock.)

The examples will demonstrate how to get the UTC time from NTP server, then update the DS3231, STM32 built-in RTC or local clock to make sure the time is perfectly correct.

In the examples, the interval to get perfect time from the NTP server to update RTC and/or local clock is configurable to ensure the RTC and/or local clock accuracy.

This NTPClient_Generic Library is based on and modified from Fabrice Weinberg's NTPClient Library to add functions, features and as well as support to many boards and shields.

Releases v3.2.2

Add examples to use STM32 Built-In RTC.

Releases v3.2.1

Initial porting to many Generic boards using WiFi/Ethernet modules/shields.
Add support to SAMD21/SAMD51, nRF52, STM32F/L/H/G/WB/MP1 with WiFiNINA, W5x00, ENC28J60, LAN8742A Ethernet modules/shields.
Add functions.
Completely new examples using NTP time to update DS3231 RTC and/or local clock.

Currently Supported Boards

ESP8266.
ESP32.
SAM DUE
AdaFruit Feather nRF52832, nRF52840 Express, BlueFruit Sense, Itsy-Bitsy nRF52840 Express, Metro nRF52840 Express, NINA_B302_ublox, NINA_B112_ublox etc..
Arduino SAMD21 (ZERO, MKR, NANO_33_IOT, etc.).
Adafruit SAMD21 (Itsy-Bitsy M0, Metro M0, Feather M0, Gemma M0, etc.).
Adafruit SAMD51 (Itsy-Bitsy M4, Metro M4, Grand Central M4, Feather M4 Express, etc.).
Seeeduino SAMD21/SAMD51 boards (SEEED_WIO_TERMINAL, SEEED_FEMTO_M0, SEEED_XIAO_M0, Wio_Lite_MG126, WIO_GPS_BOARD, SEEEDUINO_ZERO, SEEEDUINO_LORAWAN, SEEED_GROVE_UI_WIRELESS, etc.)
STM32 (Nucleo-144, Nucleo-64, Nucleo-32, Discovery, STM32F1, STM32F3, STM32F4, STM32H7, STM32L0, etc.).
STM32F/L/H/G/WB/MP1 (Nucleo-64 L053R8,Nucleo-144, Nucleo-64, Nucleo-32, Discovery, STM32Fx, STM32H7, STM32Lx, STM32Gx, STM32WB, STM32MP1, etc.) having 32K+ Flash program memory.
AVR Mega, UNO, Nano

Currently Supported WiFi Modules/Shields

ESP8266 built-in WiFi.
ESP32 built-in WiFi.
WiFiNINA using WiFiNINA or WiFiNINA_Generic library.
ESP8266-AT, ESP32-AT WiFi shields using WiFiEspAT or ESP8266_AT_WebServer library. To be done soon.

Currently Supported Ethernet Modules/Shields

W5x00's using Ethernet, EthernetLarge, Ethernet2 or Ethernet3 Library.
ENC28J60 using EthernetENC or UIPEthernet library.
LAN8742A using STM32Ethernet / STM32 LwIP libraries.

khoih-prog · October 29, 2020, 2:32am

Examples

ESP32/ESP8266 Boards

Generic Boards with Ethernet

STM32F/L/H/G/WB/MP1 Boards with Ethernet

Generic Boards with WiFiNINA

Debug Termimal Output Samples

This is terminal debug output when running Ethernet_NTPClient_Advanced example on Adafruit nRF52 NRF52840_FEATHER_EXPRESS with ENC28J60 & EthernetENC Library.

Starting Ethernet_NTPClient_Advanced on NRF52840_FEATHER with ENC28J60 using EthernetENC Library

[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] =========================
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] Default SPI pinout:
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] MOSI: 25
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] MISO: 24
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] SCK: 26
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] SS: 5
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] =========================
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] Board : NRF52840_FEATHER , setCsPin: 10
=========================
Currently Used SPI pinout:
MOSI:25
MISO:24
SCK:26
SS:5
=========================
Using mac index = 3
You're connected to the network, IP = 192.168.2.79
Using NTP Server 0.ca.pool.ntp.org
******NOT UPDATED******
UTC : 00:00:05
UTC : 00:00:05 Thu 01 Jan 1970
LOC : 02:28:21
LOC : 02:28:21 Sun 07 Feb 2106
UTC EPOCH : 5
LOC EPOCH : 4294952901
UTC : 0:0:5 Thu 1/1/1970 or 1 Jan 1970
UTC : 00:00:05 Thu 1/1/1970 or 1 Jan 1970
LOC : 2:28:21 Sun 7/2/2106 or 7 Feb 2106
LOC : 02:28:21 Sun 7/2/2106 or 7 Feb 2106
********UPDATED********
UTC : 18:55:26
UTC : 18:55:26 Mon 26 Oct 2020
LOC : 14:55:26
LOC : 14:55:26 Mon 26 Oct 2020
UTC EPOCH : 1603738526
LOC EPOCH : 1603724126
UTC : 18:55:26 Mon 26/10/2020 or 26 Oct 2020
UTC : 18:55:26 Mon 26/10/2020 or 26 Oct 2020
LOC : 14:55:26 Mon 26/10/2020 or 26 Oct 2020
LOC : 14:55:26 Mon 26/10/2020 or 26 Oct 2020

The following is debug terminal output when running example BI_RTC_Alarm_Ethernet_NTPClient_STM32 example on STM32F7 Nucleo-144 NUCLEO_F767ZI with LAN8742A using STM32Ethernet Library to demonstrate the usage of STM32 built-in RTC Alarm function

Start BI_RTC_Alarm_Ethernet_NTPClient_STM32 on NUCLEO_F767ZI, using LAN8742A Ethernet & STM32Ethernet Library
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] Board : NUCLEO_F767ZI , setCsPin: 10
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] Default SPI pinout:
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] MOSI: 11
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] MISO: 12
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] SCK: 13
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] SS: 10
[ETHERNET_WEBSERVER] =========================
You're connected to the network, IP = 192.168.2.111
Retry RTC update in seconds : 3

Updating Time for STM32 RTC
********UPDATED********
=======RTC ALARM SET========
20:47:55 Wed 28 Oct 2020 UTC
16:47:55 Wed 28 Oct 2020 EDT
============================
RTC updated. Next update in seconds : 3600
============================
20:47:31 Wed 28 Oct 2020 UTC
16:47:31 Wed 28 Oct 2020 EDT
============================
20:47:40 Wed 28 Oct 2020 UTC
16:47:40 Wed 28 Oct 2020 EDT
============================
20:47:50 Wed 28 Oct 2020 UTC
16:47:50 Wed 28 Oct 2020 EDT
*****RTC ALARM ACTIVATED*****
*****RTC ALARM ACTIVATED*****
============================
20:47:59 Wed 28 Oct 2020 UTC
16:47:59 Wed 28 Oct 2020 EDT
============================
20:48:08 Wed 28 Oct 2020 UTC
16:48:08 Wed 28 Oct 2020 EDT

Juraj · October 29, 2020, 6:51am

on esp8266 and esp32 does it use the SDK functions to get time?

github.com

gmag11/NtpClient/blob/master/README.md

# Notice
With new improvements in sdk both for esp32 and esp8266, this library has become less usefull. Using internal functions of IDF or NonOS (esp8266) have several advantages and it is mandatory for certain scenarios, like using HTTPS with certificate check.

For that reason this library will be deprecated. I will keep the repository opened for archive reasons, but I will not make any big development on it.

I'll copy the recommended NTP initialisation code for both ESP8266 and ESP32 using Arduino. It is easy and convenient.

Arduino MKR1000 users, if any, can keep using it.

----------

### New library announcement

**(23/nov/2020)** - Due to a current project I needed having NTP synchronization with millisecond accuracy. It is not currently implemented in any NTP client library or internal Espressif SDK. So, I've started a new library that focuses on **high accuracy sync**. It only supports **ESP8266 and ESP32**.

You can find it on GitHub repository https://github.com/gmag11/ESPNtpClient

It relies in internal Posix Time implementation so it is integrated on SDK time calculation. This means that it can be used with TLS mechanism to check certificates validity.

-------------

This file has been truncated. show original

khoih-prog · October 30, 2020, 12:12am

Yes, ESP32 and ESP8266 have the built-in functions to get UTC Time from NTP servers.

For ESP32, these functions are used to get NTP time

void configTime(long gmtOffset_sec, int daylightOffset_sec, const char* server1, const char* server2 = nullptr, const char* server3 = nullptr);
void configTzTime(const char* tz, const char* server1, const char* server2 = nullptr, const char* server3 = nullptr);

For ESP8266, we can use these functions (defined in time.cpp)

uint32 sntp_get_current_timestamp();
void configTime(const char* tz, const char* server1, const char* server2, const char* server3);
void configTime(int timezone_sec, int daylightOffset_sec, const char* server1, const char* server2, const char* server3);

The NTPClient_Generic Library are intended to be used for other boards without sophisticated level of support similar to ESP8266/ESP32.

Juraj · October 30, 2020, 6:20am

khoih-prog:
The NTPClient_Generic Library are intended to be used for other boards without sophisticated level of support similar to ESP8266/ESP32.

yes, I was curious if under the hood the library uses udp for all architectures or for esp it uses the built in functions and I don't have time to study the source code. because the internal functions set the esp RTC and there is no other way to set it.

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NTPClient_Generic Library to get time from NTP servers

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