PCB and firmware for the CW&T Time Since Launch project.
Buy one here... https://shop.cooperhewitt.org/products/time-since-launch
Or here... https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/time-since-launch-clock
- Run for decades on 2xAA batteries.
- Stay accurate to to within ±2ppm over the lifetime.
- Replaceable batteries, with continued timekeeping during a reasonable battery swap time period.
- ATXMEGA128B3 processor for LCD driving and supervision.
- RX8900 RTC for precision timekeeping
- 2x AIExpress 6-digit, 7-segment dynamic LCD glass
- 2x Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries
- Optional 32768Hz tuning fork quartz watch crystal
We use a block at the start of EEPROM to ...
- Initially set the current real time on first power up at the factory.
- Remember that we set the current time at the factory.
- Remember if/when the trigger was pulled.
- Remember if the RTC has ever lost power.
Here is the format of that block...
#define EEPROM_ADDRESS_STARTIME EEPROM_ADDRESS( 0) // Set by the at the Factory to real time GMT when initially programmed. RX8900 register block layout. Values are BCD.
#define EEPROM_ADDRESS_STARTFLAG EEPROM_ADDRESS( 8) // Set 0x00 to indicate that STARTTIME block has time in it, set to 0x01 when STARTTIME set to the RTC the first time we power up
#define EEPROM_ADDRESS_TRIGGERTIME EEPROM_ADDRESS(10) // Set to RTC time when the trigger pin is pulled. RX8900 register block layout. Values are BCD.
#define EEPROM_ADDRESS_TRIGGERFLAG EEPROM_ADDRESS(18) // Set to 0x01 when the trigger pin is pulled and the RTC time is aves to the TRIGGER_TIME block.
#define EEPROM_ADDRESS_LOWVOLTFLAG EEPROM_ADDRESS(20) // Set to 0x01 if we ever power up and find a low voltage condition.
The times are in RX8900 register block format....
| Address | Function |
|---|---|
| 00 | SEC |
| 01 | MIN |
| 02 | HOUR |
| 03 | WEEK |
| 04 | DAY |
| 05 | MONTH |
| 06 | YEAR |
| 07 | RAM |
We ignore the WEEK register, but set it to a sensical value (1-7) since the datasheet warns of problems otherwise.
We use the RAM location to hold our century interlock.
The RX8900 only saves 2 digits for the year, so when we roll from 2099 to 2100, the year will go from 99 to 0. This would make us loose 100 years worth of days on the first battery change of the new century when we go to compute how long since the pin was pulled.
To buy ourselves extra centuries, we use a century interlock stored in the RAM register of the RX8900. When we first program a unit (presumably in the 1st half of the 2000 century), we set the interlock to '00' BCD (0x00).
On every power up (typically due to battery change) every 10 - 30 years(? We'll see!), we check the current year. If it is greater than 50 and the century interlock is even, then we increment the century interlock. If it is less than 50 and the century interlock is odd, then we increment the century interlock. This also has the effect of re-writing the EEPROM every few decades, which may or may not extend the retention.
When we want to compute the total days elapsed since epoch Jan 1, 2000 then we divide the century interlock by 2 and drop the remainder. We when multiply this by the number of days in an RX8900 century and we will get the correct value.
This will get us an additional 127 centuries of run time, which puts us at the year 14700. We will need to patch the firmware before then if we want to continue to keep accurate count.
The RX8900 counts any year ending in 00 as a leap year, but in real life 2100 is not a leap year.
This means that if a unit is programmed in the 2000's and triggered on 3/1/2100 then the trigger date in EEPROM will be 2/29/2100, and any day after that will be 1 day behind the actual calendar date when the trigger was pulled. The count will still always be right, and the only way you'd know about this is if you inspect the trigger time with the diagnostic mode or if you have to reset the RTC.
This divergence will increase by 1 for each non-leap year ending in 00 after 2000, including 2200 and 2300 (2400 is a leap).
Why don't we just correct for this in the firmware? Well because as far as the RX8900 is concerned 2/29/2100 actually happened, so a trigger could happen on that day.
Since this problem is predicable we can account for it when resetting the RTC in units triggered after 2/28/2100.
The factory burns the firmware into flash and also stores the current GMT time into STARTTIME in the EEPROM block.
On initial power up, firmware sees a new STARTTIME block in EEPROM and uses it to set the RTC. It then sets the STARTFLAG so that the time is not programmed again on subsequent power ups and executes a software reset to being normal operation with the new start time.
If the trigger pin is out at start up we go into clock mode and show the current GMT time until the pin is inserted. THIS CLOCKMODE IS MEANT FOR TESTING ONLY. It is very high power (like 50x normal count!), so be sure to insert the pin as soon as you have verified the correct time. DO NOT USE A TSL IN CLOCKMODE AS A CLOCK. If you really want a TSL clock, we can make you power efficient firmware for that.
Once the pin is in, we go into Ready To Launch mode.
Every time the XMEGA powers up (on initial programming or after battery change), it will display a pretty sinewave pattern for 2 seconds while it waits for the RX8900 RTC to oscillator to stabilize.
Do we need this? Well we certainly do not need it if the RTC is already running, but it is unclear if we can poll the RTC to see if it is running before the oscillator has settled. The datasheets are unclear.
"Please perform initial setting only tSTA (oscillation start time), when the built-in oscillation is stable."
...so we wait.
For testing only - removed from production firmware.
Displayed for 2 seconds after each reset. Shows the reset flags currently set. We clear the flags after testing them, so there should only be one flag set indicating the reason for the most recent reset.
Shows the word rESEt on the left LCD and the following possible flags on the right LCD...
| Letter | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| P | Power On | Initial power up |
| E | External | The RESET pin was pulled low (We disable this pin) |
| b | Brown out | Brown out voltage reached (We disable the brown out detector) |
| d | Download | PDI download triggered reset |
| S | Software | Software generated reset (We trigger this after setting the time) |
| U | Undefined | One of the two undefined flags were set |
Shows "SEt CLoC" on the LCD.
Shown when we initially set the start time from EEPROM into the RTC during factory programming.
After this we execute a software reset.
Shows current real time as MMDDYY HHMMSS with blinking ":"'s.
This time comes from the RTC and should be correct GMT ±2ppm if it was programmed correctly at the factory.
This mode is shown at start up if we have a good start time, but no trigger time and the pin is not inserted.
We existing this mode when the pin is inserted and goto Ready To Launch mode.
WARING: Clock mode uses about 50x as much power as normal Time Since Launch mode, so don't leave it on for too long! For diagnostics only!
Shows a mesmerizing winding pattern with 1Hz update rate.
The purpose of this pattern is to show the user that we are ready and willing, and also make apparent any bad LCD segments stuck either on or off.
We enter this mode on power up if the trigger pin has never been pulled before, and we exit it when the pin is pulled. When the pin is finally pulled, we blink the flashbulb LEDs and save the current time from the RTC into EPPROM in the TRIGGERTIME block to remember the trigger time and set the TRIGGERFLAG.
Here we count up the days, hours, minutes, and seconds since the trigger was pulled.
When we reach 1,000,000 days we switch to Long Now mode.
Shows the time the trigger pin was pulled in MMDDYY HHMMSS blinking at 0.5Hz.
Indicates that the trigger pin was pulled and we marked the moment shown on the display, but since then the real time was lost (RTC lost power) and needs to be set before we can show Time Since Launch mode.
The unit can be factory serviced and set with the correct real time and it will pick up where it left off.
Shows cLoc Error blinking forever.
Indicates that the trigger pin has never been pulled, and that the real time was lost. The start time must be set again before we can go to Ready To Launch mode.
This likely means that the unit was stored as old new stock for 100+ years and the batteries we allowed to go completely dead before first use. The unit can be factory serviced to set the real time and then will be ready for first trigger.
Blinks the little battery icons at 1Hz to indicate that a low battery voltage was detected.
The battery voltage is checked once at start power up and then every 8 days in Time Since Launch mode starting at the update from day 0 to day 1. If the voltage is less than about 2.6 volts, then we go into low battery mode.
When you see this, you should swap out the batteries for new ones. No need to run, you likely have moths to years to get it done before the time is lost. Be sure to use Energizer Ultra.
Work quickly, you may have as little as 10 seconds of coast time if the battery voltage is very low. Be sure to have the new ones ready before you remove the old ones. Change the batteries one at a time - taking the first old one out and putting the new one in, then taking the second old one out and putting the new one in. This will minimize the amount of time that the unit is completely unpowered (even having low batteries installed will charge the RTC hold over capacitor).
If after you change the batteries you still see low battery mode, then pull one of the batteries out and wait for the LCD to go blank and then quickly put the battery back in.
Note that we intentionally do not check for low batteries during Ready to Launch mode. It is expected that a TSL will spend most of its decades in Time Since Launch mode, so no point in wasting good power right at the beginning of its long life. Also, what cut off would we use? Should it be higher than the cut off during Time Since Launch mode? If your TSL has been sitting around for more than 20 years and you are about to have a big moment and you want to play it safe, you can always prophylacticly put in new batteries.
Shows 999999 235959 blinking forevermore.
Indicates that the trigger was more than 1 million days (~2740 years) ago so we can not display it accurately.
The idea here is to avoid problems of people trying to ebay old TSL units that have rolled over by misrepresenting their true age.
Shows "bAd Int" blinking forever.
This means that an unexpected interrupt happened. This would be very unexpected indeed.
The only interrupts that are ever enabled are for the trigger pin and the 2Hz FOUT tick (risgin and falled edge of 1Hz) coming from the RTC, and we turn off the trigger pin after the pin is pulled.
Shows EEPro ErrorX blinking forever.
This is shown on start-up if the EEPROM is in an inconsistent state. This usually means either that the EEPROM was never programmed (it defaults to 0xff's), or it got corrupted somehow.
The X after EEPro is a code that tells you the first problem found (they are checked in order).
| Code | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1 | Invalid LOW VOLTAGE FLAG |
| 2 | Invalid START FLAG |
| 3 | Invalid TRIGGER FLAG |
| 4 | TRIGGER FLAG set but START FLAG not set |
| 5 | TRIGGER TIME is in the future |
| 6 | [elided] |
| 7 | Invalid START TIME |
| 8 | Invalid TRIGGER TIME |
All flags must have a value of either 0 (not set) or 1 (set).
How could the user have pulled the trigger if we never set the start time? Impossible.
To find the Time Since Launch, we need to subtract the time now from the TRIGGERTIME, so the TRIGGERTIME must be before now.
[elided]
STARTTIME failed validity checks on start up. (i.e. month was greater than 12)
TRIGGERTIME failed validity checks on start up. (i.e. month was greater than 12)
When programming the STARTTIME into the EEPROM, be sure to account for (1) the time it takes to generate the EEPROM file and program it into the unit, and (2) the 1 second warm up delay when the unit first comes up.
On the initial power-up after the time as been set to the value supplied in the STARTTIME EEPROM block, the display will show the Clock mode for as long as the trigger pin is out.
This is handy for verifying the correct time was programmed.
There are two test pins on the 6-pin ISP connector on the board labeled B and T. They are internally pulled up, so you connect them the to the ground pin (labeled G) to activate them.
The reset pins are checked at start up and at the end of each hour.
Grounding the B pin will show a series of three display phases, switching once per second.
The sequence will repeat if pin B is still grounded after phase 3 is displayed.
The LCD displays the STARTTIME block from EEPROM.
Left : is on to differentiate this display.
Will show the stored trigger time. The left & right :'s are lit to differentiate this display.
The display will show "no triG" if the EEPROM trigger flag is not set.
The right : is lit to differentiate this display.
(Note this changed in ver 1.04)
The left LCD module shows XXVOLt where XX is the current Vcc voltage as read by the XMEGA analog to digital converter. There is an implied decimal point between the two digits, so 31VOLT means the XMEGA just sampled the Vcc as 3.1 volts. Note that this voltage can be slightly lower than what it will be when running normally because this diagnostics screen uses much more current than the normal modes do.
The right LCD module shows VErXXX where XXX is the current firmware version as defined in the TSL.c source code. There is an implied decimal point between the first and second digits so VER101 indicates firmware version 1.01.
Grounding the T pin will show current time as loaded from the RTC on the display. This will show even if the clock has not been initialized.
Left decimal point means low voltage flag set in RX8900 right now.
Right decimal point means low voltage flag is set in EEPROM (we have seen a low voltage on RX8900 in the past). Once set, the low voltage flag in EEPROM stays set forever.
The low voltage flag indicates that the voltage to the RTC dropped low enough that the RTC at least stopped counting, and possibly lost all the values in the time registers.
The RX8900 low voltage is checked and the EEPROM flag is set after this diagnostic screen, so you can see the RTC showing low voltage but the EEPROM flag not set if this is the first time we are powering up since the low voltage event happened on the RTC.
The low voltage flag is cleared in the RX8900 when it is programmed with the start time at the factory.
(Note this changed in ver 1.04)
We actually have two oscillators running simultaneously here.
The ATMEGA uses either the XTAL or the internal ULP oscillator to drive the LCD controller. The xtal uses about 0.3uA less current, but requires an extra part (the ULP is built in to the XMEGA).
The RX8900 is programmed to generate a 1Hz output pulse (FOUT) that is connected to an IO pin on the XMEGA. The rising and falling edges of each of these pulses causes an interrupt on the XMEGA which wakes it from deep sleep. On waking, the XMEGA checks the FOUT pin to see if it has changed, and if not then it goes back to sleep. We do this to filter spurious interrupts that can be caused by noise from static electricity from rubbing the glass.
On the falling FOUT edge the XMEGA then increments the count and updates the display and goes back to deep sleep until the next interrupt.
The resistor on the FOUT line is to reduce the amount of current that flows from the RTC into the MCU during a battery change. This current can flow because there is an internal clamping diode inside the MCU that is forward biased if the pin voltage is higher than the Vcc voltage, which can happen during a battery change since the RTC is running off of the backup capacitors but there is no power to the MCU. We hope that RTC will stop driving FOUT when it sees FOE drop (FOE is connected to the MCU Vcc line).
Diode D1 serves two purposes. Firstly, it prevents power from flowing from the backup capacitors into the MCU during a battery change. This will hopefully extend the time the user has to successfully complete the change since the RTC alone uses much less power than the MCU. Both sides of the diode also serve to protect both the MCU and RTC from reverse voltage in the case the batteries are inserted backwards.
We also did a lot of work to save power on the display updates by basically writing an optimizing compiler that transforms a sequence of LCD steps (like 0000 to 5959) into minimal cycle count AVR assembly language that will display those steps. Do read more about it in the code2code.MD document.
gcc optimization: -O3 -flto
-x c -funsigned-char -funsigned-bitfields -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Atmel\Studio\7.0\Packs\atmel\XMEGAB_DFP\1.1.55\include" -O3 -flto -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fpack-struct -fshort-enums -g2 -Wall -mmcu=atxmega128b3 -B "C:\Program Files (x86)\Atmel\Studio\7.0\Packs\atmel\XMEGAB_DFP\1.1.55\gcc\dev\atxmega128b3" -c -std=gnu99 -MD -MP -MF "$(@:%.o=%.d)" -MT"$(@:%.o=%.d)" -MT"$(@:%.o=%.o)"
The only change we make to default fuses is to change FuseByte4 to 0xEE.
This sets the RSTDISBL fuse...
Bit: 4 – RSTDISBL: External Reset Disable This fuse can be programmed to disable the external reset pin functionality. When this is done, pulling the r ill not cause an external reset. A reset is required before this bit will be read correctly after it is changed
We do this to avoid inadvertent resets. We have seen cases where the built-in pull-up on the reset line is not enough to resist a strong electric field generated by static electricity on the outside of the tube in dry winter conditions.
Check out the programming readme for more info.
| Mode | Vcc=3.55V | Vcc=2.6V |
|---|---|---|
| Ready to Launch | 5.5uA | 5.3uA |
| Time Since Launch | 6.0uA | 5.4uA |
| Long Now | 4.7uA | 4.2uA |
| Low Battery | 3.9uA | 3.5uA |
| quiescent | 3.9uA | 3.4uA |
Quiescent mode means that all LCD segments are turned off, interrupts are disabled, and the XMEGA is put into Power Save mode. The only current draw should be from the RX8900 and the XMEGA quiescent power.
3.55V is approximately the voltage of a pair of fresh Energizer Ultra batteries. 2.6V is approximately the voltage when we drop to Low Battery mode.
Note that voltage drop over time is not expected to be linear with Energizer Ultra cells. These batteries are predicted to spend most of their lives towards the higher end of the voltage range and only start dropping when they get near to their end of life.
Comparing Time Since Launch mode to Long Now mode lets us see how much power is used in the the timekeeping code.
Comparing Low Battery mode to Long Now mode lets us see how much of the power is dependent on just how many LCD segments are lit.
Comparing maximum and minimum operating voltages for different modes lets us see how much of the power usage is dependent on supply voltage, and how that relates to time spent in sleep versus active mode (Time Since Launch spend a lot of time in active, whereas Long Now and Low Battery spend almost none).
Comparing Low Battery mode to quiescent mode lets us see how much power used by the interrupt ISRs (confounded slightly by those tiny little battery icon segments and the single blink instructions in Low Battery mode).
There is not much to be gained by elimination the ISR overhead. This is surprising. Those unnecessary PUSHes and POPs still bug the crap out of me.
There are gains of up to 1uA possible from having fewer LCD segments lit. Not sure how actionable this is. We could, say, save 0.5uA by blinking the Time Since Launch mode screen off every other second. It is likely that Ready To Launch mode's low power relative to Time Since Launch mode is due to the fact that it has only 1 segment lit per digit.
Probably the best place to focus effort is on the Time Since Launch update code since there is about 1uA on the table and the device spends the vast majority of its live here.
Production board from initial batch. Bare PCB on my desk (not in tube).
68F
80%RH
(Higher humidity and temperature tends to increase current consumption. Need some different weather conditions to quantify this!)
Firmware is Feature complete but could use more testing.
We are at an average of <6uA running current over the full voltage range.
If the battery datasheets are to be believed, this suggests a runtime of ~66 years. Even derating a few percent for internal leakage, we should get a decent run time between battery changes.
Find a way to suppress the ISR call on interrupts. Maybe by playing with interrupt priorities? We do not use the ISR and just do an empty return, so why waste all those cycle on PUSHing and POPing.
Trivially reroute J2:2 and J2:3 to avoid the unnecessary vias. I know one will ever see these because they are under the LCD and battery holder, but still they bug me.
Add a supplemental pull-up resistor to ~RESET line. In dry conditions it is possible to reset the XMEGA over the built-in pull-up when it is in the tube using static fields. Don't really need this since the firmware is spurious RESET tolerant, but cleaner.
Try using the ~INT line from the RTC to trigger an update on the MCU. We would use an internal pullup on the MUC pin. Since this pin on the RTC is open collector, this would eliminate any power drain from the RTC to the MCU during battery changes. To be seen if this set up uses significantly more power during normal operation since the RTC is shorting the pull-up to ground. We could potentially turn off the pull-up very quickly after waking, and then wait to turn it back on until we know that the ~INT pin is open again. The ~INT pin is closed fort about 7ms and then automatically opened again, so we could probably use the Watchdog timer to sleep during this period.
Add an Ultra-Low Quiescent Current Low-Dropout Linear Regulator in front of the XMEGA. The current drops from 5.6uA@3.2V to 4.2uA@2.0V, so some potential for savings here, but worth the extra part?
Try driving the LCD bias voltages directly from the battery voltage. The Energizer Ultra's have remarkably stable voltage over most of their lives and we go into Low Battery mode when they start to drop, so might be able to save power by disabling the XMEGA charge pump and finding contrast settings that work with the battery voltage direct?
If possible find a static LCD and bit bang the segments. Since our batteries have such a flat voltage curve, we could avoid the biasing circuits and charge pump and save a lot of power.
If the datasheets are to be believed, switching to an ultra low power ARM (like SAM22L or STM32L) or STM8 could reduce power drastically, at the cost of higher cost. This needs to be tested.
It might be possible to do temperature compensation inside the MCU and get rid of the RX8900 while achieving more accuracy (would take a higher precision temp sensor than the one in the RX, and better characterization of each individual unit) . While this could also potentially save power in theory, it seems unlikely that it would in practice since that part astonishingly pulls less than 1uA in practice.