Can I use app_timer and nrf_drv_timer together?

[fernandolns]

Hi,

I am having problems with using BLE along with gpiote and ppi for measuring the delay between two waveforms and sending the delay between them to an app using bluetooth. I am measuring the delay using the nrf timer driver, which i've learnt that it's very precise. And I got the code for BLE from a Nordic's tutorial that uses app_timer (RTC). However, they are not working together... is there conflict between these two? How do I make the code work???

Thank you in advance.

[fernandolns]

the issue of the timers has been resolved, thanks!

[Aijiapeng]

HI fernandolns , i had the same problem as you ,could you tell me how to resolve it ?

Thank you in advance.

[fernandolns]

Hi, sorry for taking long to answer, It's been couple of months, but what I changed in order to make it work if I remember clearly was a line at main. There was a conflict with buttons and leds, then I removed it:

// buttons_leds_init(&erase_bonds);

(See if it works only by removing this line)

(I found out by debugging)

I'm sure this was the problem. However I remember that I also tried changing something with the timers.

Instead of channel 0, it became channel 1 in this function being used in my main:

nrf_drv_timer_capture_get(&m_timer, NRF_TIMER_CC_CHANNEL1)

then at nrf_drv_config.h I changed this /*TIMER*/ part, to this:

(changing the lines TIMER1_ENABLED 1 and TIMER0_ENABLED 0)

like this:

/* TIMER */
#define TIMER0_ENABLED 0

#if (TIMER0_ENABLED == 1)
#define TIMER0_CONFIG_FREQUENCY    NRF_TIMER_FREQ_16MHz
#define TIMER0_CONFIG_MODE         TIMER_MODE_MODE_Timer
#define TIMER0_CONFIG_BIT_WIDTH    TIMER_BITMODE_BITMODE_32Bit
#define TIMER0_CONFIG_IRQ_PRIORITY APP_IRQ_PRIORITY_LOW

#define TIMER0_INSTANCE_INDEX      0
#endif

#define TIMER1_ENABLED 1

#if (TIMER1_ENABLED == 1)
#define TIMER1_CONFIG_FREQUENCY    NRF_TIMER_FREQ_16MHz
#define TIMER1_CONFIG_MODE         TIMER_MODE_MODE_Timer
#define TIMER1_CONFIG_BIT_WIDTH    TIMER_BITMODE_BITMODE_16Bit
#define TIMER1_CONFIG_IRQ_PRIORITY APP_IRQ_PRIORITY_LOW

#define TIMER1_INSTANCE_INDEX      (TIMER0_ENABLED)
#endif
 
#define TIMER2_ENABLED 0

#if (TIMER2_ENABLED == 1)
#define TIMER2_CONFIG_FREQUENCY    NRF_TIMER_FREQ_16MHz
#define TIMER2_CONFIG_MODE         TIMER_MODE_MODE_Timer
#define TIMER2_CONFIG_BIT_WIDTH    TIMER_BITMODE_BITMODE_16Bit
#define TIMER2_CONFIG_IRQ_PRIORITY APP_IRQ_PRIORITY_LOW

#define TIMER2_INSTANCE_INDEX      (TIMER1_ENABLED+TIMER0_ENABLED)
#endif

#define TIMER3_ENABLED 0

#if (TIMER3_ENABLED == 1)
#define TIMER3_CONFIG_FREQUENCY    NRF_TIMER_FREQ_16MHz
#define TIMER3_CONFIG_MODE         TIMER_MODE_MODE_Timer
#define TIMER3_CONFIG_BIT_WIDTH    TIMER_BITMODE_BITMODE_16Bit
#define TIMER3_CONFIG_IRQ_PRIORITY APP_IRQ_PRIORITY_LOW

#define TIMER3_INSTANCE_INDEX      (TIMER2_ENABLED+TIMER1_ENABLED+TIMER0_ENABLED)
#endif

#define TIMER4_ENABLED 0

#if (TIMER4_ENABLED == 1)
#define TIMER4_CONFIG_FREQUENCY    NRF_TIMER_FREQ_16MHz
#define TIMER4_CONFIG_MODE         TIMER_MODE_MODE_Timer
#define TIMER4_CONFIG_BIT_WIDTH    TIMER_BITMODE_BITMODE_16Bit
#define TIMER4_CONFIG_IRQ_PRIORITY APP_IRQ_PRIORITY_LOW

#define TIMER4_INSTANCE_INDEX      (TIMER3_ENABLED+TIMER2_ENABLED+TIMER1_ENABLED+TIMER0_ENABLED)
#endif


#define TIMER_COUNT (TIMER0_ENABLED+TIMER1_ENABLED+TIMER2_ENABLED+TIMER3_ENABLED+TIMER4_ENABLED)

I also put this next part at nrf_drv_timer.h:

#define TIMER0_INSTANCE_INDEX 0
#define TIMER1_INSTANCE_INDEX TIMER0_INSTANCE_INDEX+TIMER0_ENABLED
#define TIMER2_INSTANCE_INDEX TIMER1_INSTANCE_INDEX+TIMER1_ENABLED
#define TIMER3_INSTANCE_INDEX TIMER2_INSTANCE_INDEX+TIMER2_ENABLED
#define TIMER4_INSTANCE_INDEX TIMER3_INSTANCE_INDEX+TIMER3_ENABLED

becoming like this, the beginnig of nrf_drv_timer.h when adding that:

/* Copyright (c) 2015 Nordic Semiconductor. All Rights Reserved.
 *
 * The information contained herein is property of Nordic Semiconductor ASA.
 * Terms and conditions of usage are described in detail in NORDIC
 * SEMICONDUCTOR STANDARD SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT.
 *
 * Licensees are granted free, non-transferable use of the information. NO
 * WARRANTY of ANY KIND is provided. This heading must NOT be removed from
 * the file.
 *
 */

/**@file
 * @addtogroup nrf_timer Timer HAL and driver
 * @ingroup    nrf_drivers
 * @brief      Timer APIs.
 * @details    The timer HAL provides basic APIs for accessing the registers
 *             of the timer. The timer driver provides APIs on a higher level.
 *
 * @defgroup   lib_driver_timer Timer driver
 * @{
 * @ingroup    nrf_timer
 * @brief      Multi-instance timer driver.
 */

#ifndef NRF_DRV_TIMER_H__
#define NRF_DRV_TIMER_H__

#include "nordic_common.h"
#include "nrf_drv_config.h"
#include "nrf_timer.h"
#include "sdk_errors.h"
#include "nrf_assert.h"

/**
 * @brief Timer driver instance data structure.
 */
typedef struct
{
    NRF_TIMER_Type * p_reg;            ///< Pointer to the structure with TIMER peripheral instance registers.
    uint8_t          instance_id;      ///< Driver instance index.
    uint8_t          cc_channel_count; ///< Number of capture/compare channels.
} nrf_drv_timer_t;

#define ENABLED_TIMER_COUNT (TIMER0_ENABLED+TIMER1_ENABLED+TIMER2_ENABLED+TIMER3_ENABLED+TIMER4_ENABLED)

#define TIMER0_INSTANCE_INDEX 0
#define TIMER1_INSTANCE_INDEX TIMER0_INSTANCE_INDEX+TIMER0_ENABLED
#define TIMER2_INSTANCE_INDEX TIMER1_INSTANCE_INDEX+TIMER1_ENABLED
#define TIMER3_INSTANCE_INDEX TIMER2_INSTANCE_INDEX+TIMER2_ENABLED
#define TIMER4_INSTANCE_INDEX TIMER3_INSTANCE_INDEX+TIMER3_ENABLED


/**
 * @brief Macro for creating a timer driver instance.
 */

[Aijiapeng]

HI fernandolns , thank you for your reply, i will try it!