The 8051 Microcontroller and Embedded Systems

Chapter 9 Counter/Timer Programming

From the text by Mazidi & Mazidi (2000) Presentation developed by Martin Hebel

Timer-Counters
The 8051 has 2 Timer-Counters for:
Interval timing Outside event counting

Timer 0 and Timer 1 Each is 16-bit made up of two 8-bit registers, Timer High and Timer Low. TH0/TL0 TH1/TL1

TMOD
Both counters use the TMOD (Timer Mode) register for configuration.

 M1/M0 select the timer mode 0-3. Modes 0 and 3 will not be discussed in any detail as they are seldom used. C/T Determines if the timer is acting as an internal timer (0) or an external event counter (1) using pin functions T0 & T1 for counting and external input. Gate: Determines whether a hardware gate input. Pin functions INT0 & INT1 are used for gate controls. MOV TMOD, #01010001B
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 As an internal timer, the counter will clock at a rate of Osc/12. If the timer is 16-bits, with a clock of 12Mhz, how long will it take to overflow starting from 0?

 A timer must have ways to start and stop it to make it useful. In software, bits TR0 and TR1 (Timer Run) can be used for control: SETB TR0 ;Start timer 0 CLR TR0 ; Stop timer 0 Gate in TMOD can be used as external hardware control of the timer. INT0 and INT1 are used as gate inputs Normally used for external interrupts - Discussed further in Ch 11.
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Timer Mode 1: 16-Bit

In Mode 1, both TL and TH are used for counting. MOV TMOD, #00000001B Maximum value of 65,535 or FFFFH Timer is loaded with a start value: MOV TH0, #0FFH MOV TL0, #00H Timer is enabled: SETB TR0 Upon overflow, TF0 (timer overflow flag) is set.
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 Toggle (compliment) an LED connected to P1.1 every 20mSec with a 12MHz clock. Select Mode 1 (timer 0 or 1 may be used) MOV TMOD, #01H

Find number of counts required based on the speed of osc/12: 20mSec/1 uS = 20,000 counts
Subtract from 65,536 65,536 20,000 = 45,536
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 Convert to Hex and load into timer registers: MOV TH0, #0B1H MOV TL0, #0E0H Enable the timer SETB TR0 Wait until flag is set Wait: JNB TF0, Wait

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 Compliment LED CPL P1.1 Clear the flag CLR TF0 Jump back to RELOAD the timer to wait another 20mS. If timer is not reloaded, the full count from FFFF to 0 is used.
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 Write a code to cause a delay of 50mS for switch debounce.

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 Using a 12MHz osc, what is the longest delay that can be directly timed in mode 1?

How can the time be extended? Write code to create a delay of 250mS using a timer and a register.

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Mode 2: 8-Bit Reload

8-Bit timer where only TLx is used for counting. THx is loaded with the same value as TLx and is used to reload TLx when it overflows. Negative values may be used to subtract from maximum (MOV TH1, #-20)

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 What is the longest time that can directly be timed using mode 2 with a 12MHz clock?

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 Using Mode 2 and Timer 1, produce a frequency of 38KHz on P1.2 using a 12MHz clock.

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Counter Programming
Instead of being clocked from the oscillator/12, timers are clock from external inputs: Timer 0: Pin T0 Timer 1: Pin T1 Allows counting of external events. Bit C/T for the desired timer is set to 1. MOV TMOD, #01010000B

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 Develop a program to toggle the yellow LED every time 6 bottles pass a sensor connected to T0.

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 The counter can be used to keep track of external events, or as a time base for the timer (such as a 60Hz input for time keeping).

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TCON
TFx and TRx are contained in the TCON register (Timer/Counter Counter control register).

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Gate Bit
The Gate for Timer 0/1 can be used to allow hardware to start and stop the timer. One use would be to measure the length of a pulse. Pins INT0/1 are used.

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