Module – 4

8051 Timers and Serial Port

Timer programming:
The 8051 has two timers /counters, they can be used either as
 Timers to generate a time delay or as
 Event counters to count events happening outside the microcontroller

Both Timer 0 and Timer 1 are 16 bits wide

 Since 8051 has an 8-bit architecture, each 16-bits timer is accessed as two
separate registers of low byte and high byte.
 The low byte register is called TL0/TL1 and The high byte register is called
TH0/TH1.
 Accessed like any other register
ƒMOV TL0, #4FH
ƒMOV R5, TH0

TMOD Register:
 Both timers 0 and 1 use the same register, called TMOD (timer mode), to set
the various timer operation modes
 TMOD is an 8-bit register
 The lower 4 bits are for Timer 0, the upper 4 bits are for Timer 1
 In each case, the lower 2 bits are used to set the timer mode, the upper 2 bits
to specify the operation.
Example:

TCON (timer control) register: (Bit Addressable)

Timer in 8051 is used as timer, counter and baud rate generator. Timer always counts
up irrespective of whether it is used as timer, counter, or baud rate generator: Timer is
always incremented by the microcontroller. The time taken to count one digit up is
based on crystal oscillator (master clock frequency) frequency of the microcontroller.

Find the timer’s clock frequency and its period for various 8051-based system, with
the crystal frequency 11.0592 MHz and 12 MHz when C/T bit of TMOD is 0.
Solution:
crystal frequency=11.0592 MHz,
Timer Clock frequency = crystal frequency /12 = 921.6 KHz
Timer Clock Period = 1 / Timer Clock frequency = 1.085 us
This indicates that one increment in count will take 1.085 microsecond.

Similarly,
If crystal frequency =12MHz,
Timer Clock frequency = crystal frequency /12 = 1MHz
Timer Clock Period = 1 / Timer Clock frequency = 1us
This indicates that one increment in count will take 1 microsecond
Explain the steps to program timer 0 or timer 1 in mode 1:
Example Programs:
Assume that XTAL = 11.0592 MHz, write a program to generate a square wave of
2kHz frequency on pin P1.5. Use timer 0 in mode 1.
Solution:
(a) T = 1 / f = 1 / 2 kHz = 500 us the period of square wave.
(b) 1 / 2 of it for the high and low portion of the pulse is 250 us.
(c) 250 us / 1.085 us = 230 and 65536 – 230 = 65306 which in hex
is FF1AH.
(d) TL = 1A and TH = FF, all in hex. The program is as follow.

MOV TMOD, #01H ; Timer 0 in mode 1, 16-bit mode

AGAIN: MOV TL0, #1AH ; TL1=1A, low byte of timer
MOV TH0, #0FFH ; TH1=FF, the high byte
SETB TR0 ; Start timer 0
BACK: JNB TF0, BACK ; until timer rolls over
CLR TR0 ; Stop the timer 0
CPL P1.5 ; Complement P1.5
CLR TF0 ; Clear timer 0 flag
SJMP AGAIN ; Reload timer
END

Assume XTAL = 11.0592 MHz, write a program to generate a square wave of 50 kHz
frequency on pin P2.3.
Solution:
Look at the following steps.
(a) T = 1 / 50 = 20 ms, the period of square wave.
(b) 1 / 2 of it for the high and low portion of the pulse is 10 ms.
(c) 10 ms / 1.085 us = 9216 and 65536 – 9216 = 56320 in decimal, and in hex it is
DC00H.
(d) TL = 00H and TH = DCH (hex).

MOV TMOD, #10H ; Timer 1, mode 1

AGAIN:MOV TL1, #00 ; TL1=00, low byte of timer
MOV TH1, #0DCH ; TH1=DC, the high byte
SETB TR1 ; Start timer 1
BACK: JNB TF1, BACK ; loop until timer rolls over
CLR TR1 ; Stop the timer 1
CLR P2.3 ; Complement. P2.3 to get high and low pulse
SJMP AGAIN ; Reload timer because mode1 is not auto-reload
END

 Mode 2 Programming of timers:

The following are the characteristics and operations of mode 2:
1. It is an 8-bit timer; therefore, it allows only values of 00 to FFH to be loaded into
the timer’s register THx.
2. After THx is loaded with the 8-bit value, the 8051 gives a copy of it to TLx
 Then the timer must be started
 This is done by the instruction SETB TR0 for timer 0 and SETB TR1 for timer
1
3. After the timer is started, it starts to count up by incrementing the TL register
 It counts up until it reaches its limit of FFH
 When it rolls over from FFH to 00, it sets high the TFx (timer flag)
4. When the TL register rolls from FFH to 00Hand TF is set to 1, TL is reloaded
automatically with the original value kept by the TH register
 To repeat the process, we must simply clear TFx and let it go without any need
by the
programmer to reload the original value
 This makes mode 2 an auto-reload, in contrast with mode 1 in which the
programmer has to reload TH and TL.
To generate a time delay using mode 2:
1. Load the TMOD value register indicating which timer (timer 0 or timer 1) is to
be used, and the timer mode (mode 2) is selected.
2. Load the TH registers with the initial count value
3. Start timer using SETB TRx
4. Keep monitoring the timer flag (TFx) with the JNB TFx, target instruction to
see whether it is raised. Get out of the loop when TF goes high
5. Clear the TF flag
6. Go back to Step4, since mode 2 is auto reload.

Example Program:
Assume XTAL = 11.0592 MHz, find the frequency of the square wave generated on
pin P1.0 in the following program.
MOV TMOD, #20H ; Timer1/8-bit/auto reload
MOV TH1, #5 ; TH1 = 5
SETB TR1 ; start the timer 1
BACK: JNB TF1, BACK ; till timer rolls over i.e., TF1=1
CPL P1.0 ; P1.0 to high to low pulse.
CLR TF1 ; clear Timer 1 flag
SJMP BACK ; mode 2 is auto-reload
Solution:
First notice the target address of SJMP. In mode 2 we do not need to reload TH since
it is auto-reloading.
Now (256 - 05) × 1.085 us = 251 × 1.085 us = 272.33 us is the high portion of the
pulse. Since it is a 50% duty cycle square wave, the period T is twice that; as a result,
T = 2 × 272.33 us = 544.67 us and the frequency = 1.83597 kHz.
Counter Programming:
Timers can also be used as counters counting events happening outside the 8051.
when it is used as a counter, it is a pulse outside of the 8051 that increments the TH,
TL registers.
TMOD and TH, TL registers are the same as for the timer discussed previously
Programming the timer in the last section also applies to programming it as a counter
except the source of the frequency.
The C/T bit in the TMOD registers decides the source of the clock for the timer.
When C/T = 1, the timer is used as a counter and gets its pulses from outside the 8051.
The counter counts up as pulses are fed from pins 14 and 15 of microcontroller, these
pins are called T0 (timer 0 input) and T1 (timer 1 input).

Example Program.
Assuming that clock pulses are fed into pin T1, write a program for counter 1 in mode
2 to count the pulses and display the state of the TL1 count on P2, which is connected
to 8 LEDs.
Solution: MOV TM0D, #01100000B ; counter 1 mode 2, C/T=1external pulses
MOV TH1, #0 ; clear TH1
SETB P3.5 ; make T1 input
AGAIN: SETB TR1 ; start the counter 1
BACK: MOV A, TL1 ; get copy of TL
MOV P2, A ; display it on port 2
JNB TF1, Back ; keep doing, if TF = 0
CLR TR1 ; stop the counter 1
CLR TF1 ; make TF=0
SJMP AGAIN ; keep doing it

Notice in the above program the role of the instruction SETB P3.5. we make
P3.5 an input port by making it high. In other words, we must configure (set high) the
T1 pin (pin P3.5) to allow pulses to be fed into it.
Programming for Serial Data
Transmission
SBUF Register
 SCON Register

SM0 SCON.7 Serial port mode specifier

SM1 SCON.6 Serial port mode specifier
SM2 SCON.5 Used for multiprocessor communication
REN SCON.4 Set/cleared by software to enable/disable reception
TB8 SCON.3 Transmitted bit 8. Set/cleared by program in mode 2 or 3
RB8 SCON.2 Received bit 8. Bit 8 of received data in modes 2 and 3;
stop bit in mode 1. Not used in mode 0.
TI SCON.1 Transmit interrupt flag. Set to one at the beginning of
stop bit in mode 1
RI SCON.0 Receive interrupt flag. Set to one at halfway through
stop bit in mode 1
SCON Register (contd.)
SCON Register (contd.)
 Example of Mode 1 Operation

SM0 SCON.7 Serial port mode specifier

SM1 SCON.6 Serial port mode specifier
SM2 SCON.5 Used for multiprocessor communication
REN SCON.4 Set/cleared by software to enable/disable reception
TB8 SCON.3 Not widely used
RB8 SCON.2 Not widely used.
TI SCON.1 Transmit interrupt flag. Set to one at the beginning of
stop bit in mode 1
RI SCON.0 Receive interrupt flag. Set to one at halfway through
stop bit in mode 1
Note: Make SM2, TB8 and RB8 = 0

SCON = 50H implies SCON = 0101 0000 i.e. Serial Mode 1

Note:
Letters can be writtren as ‘A’ or “A” both put its ASCII value in SBUF register.
Doubling the Baud Rate
Write a 8051 C program to transfer letter ‘Y’ serially at 9600
baud rate continuously.

#include<reg51.h>
void main(void)
{
TMOD=0X20; // Configure timer 1 in mode 2
TH1=0XFD; //9600bpS
SCON=0X50; // serial mode 1
TR1=1; // start the timer 1
while(1) // repeat continuously
{
SBUF='Y'; //load ASCII value of ‘Y’ in SBUF
while(TI==0); // loop as long as TI=0
TI=0; // Clear TI
}
}
Write a 8051 C program to transfer letter ‘YES’ serially at 4800 baud rate continuosly.
#include<reg51.h>
void main(void)
{
TMOD=0X20; // TIMER 1 IN MODE 2
TH1=0XFD; //9600 BAUD RATE
SCON=0X50;
TR1=1;
while(1)
{
SBUF='Y';
while(TI==0);
TI=0;

SBUF='E';
while(TI==0);
TI=0;

SBUF='S';
while(TI==0);
TI=0;
}
}