SJSU - Embedded Driver... » Lesson FreeRTOS + LPC40xx » Lab: FreeRTOS Tasks
Export

Lab: FreeRTOS Tasks

Objective

  1. Load firmware onto the SJ board
  2. Observe the RTOS round-robin scheduler in effect
  3. Provide hands-on experience with the UART character output timing
Part 0a. Change UART speed

We will be working with an assumption for this lab, so we will need to change the UART speed. In Visual Studio Code IDE, hit Ctrl+P and open peripherals_init.c. Then modify the UART speed to 38400. After doing so, make sure you open your serial terminal or Telemetry web terminal and change the port speed to also 38400.

static void peripherals_init__uart0_init(void) {
  // Do not do any bufferring for standard input otherwise getchar(), scanf() may not work
  setvbuf(stdin, 0, _IONBF, 0);

  // Note: PIN functions are initialized by board_io__initialize() for P0.2(Tx) and P0.3(Rx)
  uart__init(UART__0, clock__get_peripheral_clock_hz(), 38400); // CHANGE FROM 115200 to 38400
  
  // ...
}

The peripherals_init__uart0_init() is executed before your main() function. When you are finished with this lab, you can choose to change this back to 115200bps for faster UART speed.

Part 0b. Create Task Skeleton

A task in an RTOS or FreeRTOS is nothing but a forever loop, however unless you sleep the task, it will consume 100% of the CPU. For this part, study existing main.c and create two additional tasks for yourself.

#include "FreeRTOS.h"
#include "task.h"

static void task_one(void * task_parameter);
static void task_two(void * task_parameter);

int main(void) {
  // ...
}

static void task_one(void * task_parameter) {
  while (true) {
    // Read existing main.c regarding when we should use fprintf(stderr...) in place of printf()
    // For this lab, we will use fprintf(stderr, ...)
    fprintf(stderr, "AAAAAAAAAAAA");
    
    // Sleep for 100ms
    vTaskDelay(100);
  }
}

static void task_two(void * task_parameter) {
  while (true) {
    fprintf(stderr, "bbbbbbbbbbbb");
    vTaskDelay(100);
  }
}
Part 1: Create RTOS tasks
  1. Fill out the xTaskCreate() method parameters.
    - See the FreeRTOS+Tasks document or checkout the FreeRTOS xTaskCreate API website
    - Recommended stack size is: 4096 / sizeof(void*)
  2. Note that you want to make sure you use fprintf(stderr, ...) in place of printf(...)
    - fprintf(stderr, ...) is slower and eats up CPU, but it is useful during debugging
    - printf(...) is faster (and efficient), but it queues the data to be "sent later"
  3. Observe the output
    - After you flash your program, check the output of the serial console
#include "FreeRTOS.h"
#include "task.h"

static void task_one(void * task_parameter);
static void task_two(void * task_parameter);

int main(void) {
    /**
     * Observe and explain the following scenarios:
     *
     * 1) Same Priority:      task_one = 1, task_two = 1
     * 2) Different Priority: task_one = 2, task_two = 1
     * 3) Different Priority: task_one = 1, task_two = 2
     *
     * Note: Priority levels are defined at FreeRTOSConfig.h
     * Higher number = higher priority
     * 
     * Turn in screen shots of what you observed
     * as well as an explanation of what you observed
     */
    xTaskCreate(task_one, /* Fill in the rest parameters for this task */ );
    xTaskCreate(task_two, /* Fill in the rest parameters for this task */ );

    /* Start Scheduler - This will not return, and your tasks will start to run their while(1) loop */
    vTaskStartScheduler();

    return 0;
}

// ...
Part 2: Further Observations

Fundamentals to keep in mind:

  • FreeRTOS tick rate is configured at 1Khz
    - This means that the RTOS preemptive scheduling can occur every 1ms repetitively
  • Standout output (printf) is integrated in software to send data to your UART0
    - This is the same serial bus that is used to load a new program (or hex file)
    - The speed is defaulted to 38400bps, and since there is 10 bits of data used to send 1 byte, we can send as many as 3840 characters per second

Critical thinking questions:

  • How come 4(or 3 sometimes) characters are printed from each task? Why not 2 or 5, or 6?
  • Alter the priority of one of the tasks, and note down the observations. Note down WHAT you see and WHY.

Hint: You have to relate the speed of the RTOS round-robin scheduler with the speed of the UART to answer the questions above

 

Part 3. Change the priority levels

Now that you have the code running with identical priority levels, try the following:

  1. Change the priority of the two tasks
    * Same Priority: task_one = 1, task_two = 1
    * Different Priority: task_one = 2, task_two = 1
    * Different Priority: task_one = 1, task_two = 2
  2. Take a screenshot of what you see from the console
  3. Write an explanation of why you think the output came out the way it did using your knowledge about RTOS

Optional: If you have TraceAlyzer program installed, we encourage you to load this file and inspect the trace.

 

What to turn in:
  1. Relevant code
  2. Your observation and explanation
  3. Snapshot of the output for all scenarios

If your class requires you to turn in the assignment as a Gitlab link, you should:

  • Use this article to get started
  • Submit a link to Gitlab "Merge Request"
  • Be sure to ensure that your Merge Request is only the new code, and not a very large diff

 

Back to top