ATmega328P Ports Mapping

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This is in continuation of last blog.  I will validate the ATmega328P concepts with practical approach. 

How ATmega328P Peripherals are mapped in Memory

mem5

Which AVR core is used in ATmega328P ? 

ATmega328P  name implies that it is  from megaAVR family of AVR core series. This precise information is required to understand instructions supported in this device.

Why there is a need to learn Assembly when we have C++ based Library ?

I will not recommend any  hobbyist to do into in-depth assembly because that will nullify whole concept of Arduino. However there is no harm in spending some time to understand the importance of Assembly.  Here are some basic points

  • High level language like C depends on Assembly for creating basic stack. You may find some information on  video  C Learning Tips with x86 platform
  • Assembly is helpful for designing  optimized time critical functions
  • Assembly is helpful in understanding MCU architecture better because C is architecture independent language
  • Additional skill set for Engineering students interested in embedded domain

Is Learning assembly a tough job ?

Not at all, It’s not a rocket science.  For RISC based architecture, You need mechanism:

  • To read(load) from a memory or memory mapped I/O
  • To write(store) to a memory or memory mapped I/O
  • To change program flow(branch) with or without a condition
  • To perform arithmetical and logical operations.

Examples for decoding AVR Assembly Code :

I wrote a simple C code to display basic GPIO ports and analyzed  the disassembly of the same. The method to fetch assembly from executable file was discussed in blog.

Reading GPIO using Indirect Addressing :

  • dump_GPIO_registers() //From sample C code

You will notice that the disassembly file has a mixture of 16 and 32-bit instructions.

16-bit Instruction decoding

41a: 8b a1 ldd r24, Y+35 ; 0x23

  • LD (LDD) – Load Indirect from Data Space to Register using Index Y
    • LDD Rd, Y+q 0 ≤ d ≤ 31, 0 ≤ q ≤ 63 //From Datasheet
    •   d=24=0x18  =0001_1000  //From instruction line given above
    •   q=35=0x23  = 0010_0011  //6 bits to address 64 I/O addresses
  • Opcode Explanation
    • Note the sequence of d and q bits in the opcode below with color coding
    • opcode format : 10q0 qq0d dddd 1qqq  //From Data Sheet
    • 1010_0001_1000_1011  =0xA1_8B    //Match with disassembly code
    •                                                                //after  changing byte order
    • Here is the logic explained in datasheet
    • mem18

32-bit Instruction decoding

Lets analyze a 32-bit instruction/opcode in the same code listing

  • 41c: 0e 94 b3 01 call 0x366 ; 0x366 <_ZN5Print7printlnEhi.constprop.7>
    • CALL k                    0 ≤ k < 64K            PC ← k Devices with 16-bit PC
    • opcode format   1001 010k kkkk 111k kkkk kkkk kkkk kkkk
    • K = 0x366=0000_0011_0110_0110 (shift right 1) ->0000_0001_1011_0011
      • Note: shift right is done above because opcode will have word addr
    • 1001_0100_0000_1110_0000_0001_1011_0011 = 0x940E_01B3
      • 14 bit PC for 16K range

16 bit I/O specific instruction

  • OUT – Store Register to I/O Location
  • 4c2: 0f be out 0x3f, r0 ; 63
  • OUT A,Rr 0 ≤ r ≤ 31, 0 ≤ A ≤ 63
  • 1011 1AAr rrrr AAAA       // Note: 6-bit I/O address can cover 64 I/O addresses
    • A=0x3F=11_1111
    • r=0x00 = 0_0000
    • 1011 1110_0000_1111 = 0xBE_0F        mem19

      Can we analyze assembly of PORTB reading  ? 

      • As per Register Summary PortB is at 0x23
      • IN – Load an I/O Location to Register
      • IN Rd,A 0 ≤ d ≤ 31, 0 ≤ A ≤ 63
      • 1011 0AAd dddd AAAA
      • 83 b1 in r24, 0x03
        • d=24 = 0x18=0001_1000
        • A=0x03=0x0000_0011 //Subtract 0x20 in I/O specific command
        • 1011 0001_1000_0011  =0xB1_83
  • The extended I/O memory from address 64 to 255 can only be reached by data addressing, not I/O addressing.

Exercise to be completed :

One can understand this concept  better by repeating the exercise > Hope you can decode the following long jump instruction discussed in last blog

  • 7fee: ee 27 eor r30, r30  //Exclusive OR i.e clear r307ff0: ff 27 eor r31, r31  //Exclusive OR i.e clear r307ff2: 09 94 ijmp   //Indirect Jump to address set in Z register(R31:R30)

References : All documents are available here. I am referring to most of these :

To understand the data addressing better , We can look into section The Program and Data Addressing Modes of  AVR Instruction set reference manual

Here are few other interesting topics @Embedkari

How to Learn C  practically ? 

How to choose sensor, processing device and network for IoT ?

How I can practice AVR, ARM, Linux and other Embedded Questions for Interview ? 

This article is  discussed at ATMega328 Ports Mapping.

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