Department of Electrical Engineering
Embedded Systems
Digital Input and Output
Lecture 4 Dr F Bensaali
Content:
• Introduction to digital terminology
• Digital outputs on the mbed
o Digital Input/Output pins
o Example: using external LEDs
o Digital output buses
• Digital inputs on the mbed
o Example: connecting switches to the mbed
o Digital input buses
2
Introduction to digital terminology
Human world signals are usually based upon continuous
analogue signals that vary in time and space
o e.g. temperature variation in the room over a day
To represent this analogue world digitally we have to assign
numbers to successive parts of the analogue signal and
process them instead
It’s a conversion process from the continuous analogue world
to the digital world
Analogue to Digital Converters (ADCs) are used to perform
this operation
3
Introduction to digital terminology (Cont’d)
Temperature
(oC)
30
25
20
15
10
5
Time of day
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A.M. P.M.
Temperature
(oC)
Each value represented
by a dot can be 30
25
represented as a digital 20
code that consists of a 15
series of 1s and 0s 10
5
Time of day
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A.M. P.M.
4
Introduction to digital terminology (Cont’d)
Most computers are digital, being constructed out of digital
circuits
o Voltage levels are used to represent the binary values ‘0’ and
‘1’ (often GND=‘0’ and VCC=‘1’)
The processor is simply a large digital circuit
o It operates on digital inputs and produces digital outputs
o Each individual input/output signal is either a ‘0’ or ‘1’
5
Introduction to digital terminology (Cont’d)
The mbed uses a power rail of 3.3 V
o 0 V indicates OFF
o 3.3 V indicates ON
Different terms are used to describe ON and OFF in digital
systems:
0V 3.3 V
Open Closed
Low High
Clear Set
Logic 0 (or ‘0’) Logic 1 (or ‘1’)
False True
6
Digital outputs on the mbed
The four on-board LEDs are digital outputs
o They are configured to operate with no extra wires or
connections needed
The mbed has also 26 digital
Input/Output (I/O) pins (pins 5-30)
o They can be configured as
inputs or outputs
LEDs
7
Digital outputs on the mbed (Cont’d)
The DigitalOut creates a C++ class
The class has a set of member functions:
Function Usage
DigitalOut Create a DigitalOut object connected to the specified pin
write Set the output, specified as ‘0’ or ‘1’ (int)
read Return the output setting, represented as 0 or 1 (int)
Operator ‘=’ A shorthand for write( )
Operator ‘int( )’ A shorthand for read( )
8
Digital outputs on the mbed (Cont’d)
Using the DigitalOut constructor, C++ objects can be created
Example: Using one of the four LEDs
DigitalOut myled(LED1);
The object myled has been created and it can be written to
and read from it
myled.write(1); X = myled.read();
Or Or
myled = 1; X = int(myled);
9
Digital I/O pins
The digital I/O pins can be configured by defining them at the
start of the program
o Each digital I/O is given a name and associated pin
Example
DigitalOut mydevice1(p11);
DigitalOut mydevice2(p20);
DigitalOut mydevice3(p28);
The DigitalOut can be used to set/read the state of the output
pin (‘0’ to turn it OFF, or ‘1’ to turn it ON)
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Example: Using external LEDs
#include "mbed.h"
DigitalOut redled(p5);
DigitalOut greenled(p6);
int main()
{
while(1)
{
redled = 1;
greenled = 0;
wait(0.5);
redled = 0;
greenled = 1;
wait(0.5);
}
}
11
Wait ( ) function
The wait( )is a function from the mbed library
o It causes a delay
o The parameter is in seconds and defines the length of
the delay
There are further options:
Function Action
wait Waits for the number of seconds specified
wait_ms Waits for the number of milliseconds specified
wait_us Waits for the number of microseconds specified
12
BusOut interface
The 26 digital I/O pins in the mbed can be configured as a
digital input or output bus
The BusOut interface is used to create a number of parallel
DigitalOut pins that can be written as one numeric value
The functions that can be used are:
Function Usage
BusOut Create a BusOut object, connected to the specified pins
write Write the value (int value) to the output bus
read Return the value currently output on the bus
Operator ‘=’ A shorthand for write()
Operator ‘int( )’ A shorthand for read()
13
BusOut interface - Example
Switch the on-board LEDs in a specific order (left shift)
#include "mbed.h" #include "mbed.h"
DigitalOut led1(LED1); BusOut myleds(LED4, LED3, LED2, LED1);
DigitalOut led2(LED2); char x;
DigitalOut led3(LED3);
DigitalOut led4(LED4); int main()
{
int main() while(1)
{ {
while(1) x = 1;
{ myleds = x;
led1 = 0; led2 = 0; wait(0.25);
led3 = 0; led4 = 1;
wait(0.25);
for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
led1 = 0; led2 = 0;
{
led3 = 1; led4 = 0;
x = x << 1;
wait(0.25);
myleds = x;
led1 = 0; led2 = 1;
wait(0.25);
led3 = 0; led4 = 0;
}
wait(0.25);
}
led1 = 1; led2 = 0;
led3 = 0; led4 = 0; }
wait(0.25);
} Using BusOut
} 14
BusOut interface – Example (Cont’d)
Alternative solution:
#include "mbed.h"
BusOut myleds(LED4, LED3, LED2, LED1);
int main()
{
while(1)
{
myleds = 1;
wait(0.25);
for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
myleds = myleds << 1;;
wait(0.25);
}
}
}
15
Digital inputs on the mbed
Digital inputs values can be read only
The same 26 pins (pins 5-30) can be configured as digital
inputs using DigitalIn
Example
DigitalIn mypin1(p5);
DigitalIn mypin2(p6);
DigitalIn mypin3(p7);
16
Digital inputs on the mbed (Cont’d)
The available library functions are:
Function Usage
DigitalIn Create a DigitalIn connected to the specified pin
read Return the input, represented as 0 or 1 (int)
mode Set the input pin mode
Operator ‘int( )’ A shorthand for read( )
DigitalIn enables by default a pull-down resistor
This can be disabled, or an internal pull-up enabled, using the
mode( )function
o Parameters that can be used are: PullUp, PullDown and
PullNone
17
Example: Connecting switches
#include "mbed.h"
DigitalOut redled(p5);
DigitalOut greenled(p6);
DigitalIn sw(p7);
int main() {
while(1) {
if (sw == 1)
{
redled = 0; // red led is OFF
greenled = 1; // flash green led
wait(0.5);
greenled = 0;
wait(0.5);
}
else
{
greenled = 0; // green led is OFF
redled = 1; // flash red led
wait(0.5);
redled = 0;
wait(0.5);
}
}
}
18
BusIn interface
The BusIn interface is used to create a number of DigitalIn pins
that can be read as one value
Any of the numbered mbed pins can be used as a DigitalIn in
the BusIn.
Function Usage
BusIn Create a BusIn object, connected to the specified pins
read Read the value of the input bus
mode Set the input pin mode
Operator ‘int( )’ A shorthand for read( )
19
BusIn interface - Example
#include "mbed.h"
BusIn pinStatus(p5, p6, p18, p11);
int main()
{
while(1)
{
switch(pinStatus)
{
case 0x3: printf("p5 and p6 are 1\n\r"); break;
case 0x8: printf("p11 is 1\n\r"); break;
}
}
}
20
BusIn interface - Exercise
Change the previous code to display the status of the input pins
on the four LEDs using BusOut.
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