RTC — Real-time counter

The Real-time counter (RTC) module provides a generic, low power timer on the low-frequency clock source (LFCLK).

Figure 1. RTC block schematic

The RTC module features a 24-bit COUNTER, a 12-bit (1/X) prescaler, capture/compare registers, and a tick event generator for low power, tickless RTOS implementation.

Clock source

The RTC will run off the LFCLK.

The COUNTER resolution will therefore be 30.517 μs. Depending on the source, the RTC is able to run while the HFCLK is OFF and PCLK16M is not available.

The software has to explicitely start LFCLK before using the RTC.

See CLOCK — Clock control for more information about clock sources.

Resolution versus overflow and the PRESCALER

Counter increment frequency:

    fRTC [kHz] = 32.768 / (PRESCALER + 1 )
    

The PRESCALER register is read/write when the RTC is stopped. The PRESCALER register is read-only once the RTC is STARTed. Writing to the PRESCALER register when the RTC is started has no effect.

The PRESCALER is restarted on START, CLEAR and TRIGOVRFLW, that is, the prescaler value is latched to an internal register (<<PRESC>>) on these tasks.

Examples:

  1. Desired COUNTER frequency 100 Hz (10 ms counter period)

    PRESCALER = round(32.768 kHz / 100 Hz) - 1 = 327

    fRTC = 99.9 Hz

    10009.576 μs counter period

  2. Desired COUNTER frequency 8 Hz (125 ms counter period)

    PRESCALER = round(32.768 kHz / 8 Hz) – 1 = 4095

    fRTC = 8 Hz

    125 ms counter period

Table 1. RTC resolution versus overflow
Prescaler Counter resolution Overflow
0 30.517 μs 512 seconds
28-1 7812.5 μs 131072 seconds
212-1 125 ms 582.542 hours

COUNTER register

The COUNTER increments on LFCLK when the internal PRESCALER register (<<PRESC>>) is 0x00. <<PRESC>> is reloaded from the PRESCALER register. If enabled, the TICK event occurs on each increment of the COUNTER. The TICK event is disabled by default.

Figure 2. Timing diagram - COUNTER_PRESCALER_0

Figure 3. Timing diagram - COUNTER_PRESCALER_1

Overflow features

The TRIGOVRFLW task sets the COUNTER value to 0xFFFFF0 to allow SW test of the overflow condition.

OVRFLW occurs when COUNTER overflows from 0xFFFFFF to 0.

Important: The OVRFLW event is disabled by default.

TICK event

The TICK event enables low power "tick-less" RTOS implementation as it optionally provides a regular interrupt source for a RTOS without the need to use the ARM® SysTick feature.

Using the RTC TICK event rather than the SysTick allows the CPU to be powered down while still keeping RTOS scheduling active.

Important: The TICK event is disabled by default.

Event control feature

To optimize RTC power consumption, events in the RTC can be individually disabled to prevent PCLK16M and HFCLK being requested when those events are triggered. This is managed using the EVTEN register.

For example, if the TICK event is not required for an application, this event should be disabled as it is frequently occurring and may increase power consumption if HFCLK otherwise could be powered down for long durations.

This means that the RTC implements a slightly different task and event system compared to the standard system described in Peripheral interface. The RTC task and event system is illustrated in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Tasks, events and interrupts in the RTC

Compare feature

There are a number of Compare registers.

For more information, see Registers.

When setting a compare register, the following behavior of the RTC compare event should be noted:

  • If a CC register value is 0 when a CLEAR task is set, this will not trigger a COMPARE event.
    Figure 5. Timing diagram - COMPARE_CLEAR

  • If a CC register is N and the COUNTER value is N when the START task is set, this will not trigger a COMPARE event.
    Figure 6. Timing diagram - COMPARE_START

  • COMPARE occurs when a CC register is N and the COUNTER value transitions from N-1 to N.
    Figure 7. Timing diagram - COMPARE

  • If the COUNTER is N, writing N+2 to a CC register is guaranteed to trigger a COMPARE event at N+2.
    Figure 8. Timing diagram - COMPARE_N+2

  • If the COUNTER is N, writing N or N+1 to a CC register may not trigger a COMPARE event.
    Figure 9. Timing diagram - COMPARE_N+1

  • If the COUNTER is N and the current CC register value is N+1 or N+2 when a new CC value is written, a match may trigger on the previous CC value before the new value takes effect. If the current CC value greater than N+2 when the new value is written, there will be no event due to the old value.

    Figure 10. Timing diagram - COMPARE_N-1

TASK and EVENT jitter/delay

Jitter or delay in the RTC is due to the peripheral clock being a low frequency clock (LFCLK) which is not synchronous to the faster PCLK16M.

Registers in the peripheral interface, part of the PCLK16M domain, have a set of mirrored registers in the LFCLK domain. For example, the COUNTER value accessible from the CPU is in the PCLK16M domain and is latched on read from an internal register called COUNTER in the LFCLK domain. COUNTER is the register which is actually modified each time the RTC ticks. These registers must be synchronised between clock domains (PCLK16M and LFCLK).

The following is a summary of the jitter introduced on tasks and events. Figures illustrating jitter follow.

Table 2. RTC jitter magnitudes on tasks
Task Delay
CLEAR, STOP, START, TRIGOVRFLOW +15 to 46 μs
Table 3. RTC jitter magnitudes on events
Operation/Function Jitter
START to COUNTER increment +/- 15 μs
COMPARE to COMPARE 1 +/- 62.5 ns
  1. CLEAR and STOP (and TRIGOVRFLW; not shown) will be delayed as long as it takes for the peripheral to clock a falling edge and rising of the LFCLK. This is between 15.2585 μs and 45.7755 μs – rounded to 15 μs and 46 μs for the remainder of the section.
    Figure 11. Timing diagram - DELAY_CLEAR

    Figure 12. Timing diagram - DELAY_STOP

  2. The START task will start the RTC. Assuming that the LFCLK was previously running and stable, the first increment of COUNTER (and instance of TICK event) will be typically after 30.5 μs +/-15 μs. In some cases, in particular if the RTC is STARTed before the LFCLK is running, that timing can be up to ~250 μs. The software should therefore wait for the first TICK if it has to make sure the RTC is running. Sending a TRIGOVRFLW task sets the COUNTER to a value close to overflow. However, since the update of COUNTER relies on a stable LFCLK, sending this task while LFCLK is not running will start LFCLK, but the update will then be delayed by the same amount of time of up to ~250 us. The figures show the smallest and largest delays to on the START task which appears as a +/-15 μs jitter on the first COUNTER increment.
    Figure 13. Timing diagram - JITTER_START-

    Figure 14. Timing diagram - JITTER_START+

Reading the COUNTER register

To read the COUNTER register, the internal <<COUNTER>> value is sampled.

To ensure that the <<COUNTER>> is safely sampled (considering an LFCLK transition may occur during a read), the CPU and core memory bus are halted for three cycles by lowering the core PREADY signal. The Read takes the CPU 2 cycles in addition resulting in the COUNTER register read taking a fixed five PCLK16M clock cycles.

Figure 15. Timing diagram - COUNTER_READ

Registers

Table 4. Instances
Base address Peripheral Instance Description Configuration
0x4000B000 RTC RTC0

Real-time counter 0

CC[0..2] implemented, CC[3] not implemented

 
0x40011000 RTC RTC1

Real-time counter 1

CC[0..3] implemented

 
0x40024000 RTC RTC2

Real-time counter 2

CC[0..3] implemented

 
Table 5. Register Overview
Register Offset Description
TASKS_START 0x000

Start RTC COUNTER

 
TASKS_STOP 0x004

Stop RTC COUNTER

 
TASKS_CLEAR 0x008

Clear RTC COUNTER

 
TASKS_TRIGOVRFLW 0x00C

Set COUNTER to 0xFFFFF0

 
EVENTS_TICK 0x100

Event on COUNTER increment

 
EVENTS_OVRFLW 0x104

Event on COUNTER overflow

 
EVENTS_COMPARE[0] 0x140

Compare event on CC[0] match

 
EVENTS_COMPARE[1] 0x144

Compare event on CC[1] match

 
EVENTS_COMPARE[2] 0x148

Compare event on CC[2] match

 
EVENTS_COMPARE[3] 0x14C

Compare event on CC[3] match

 
INTENSET 0x304

Enable interrupt

 
INTENCLR 0x308

Disable interrupt

 
EVTEN 0x340

Enable or disable event routing

 
EVTENSET 0x344

Enable event routing

 
EVTENCLR 0x348

Disable event routing

 
COUNTER 0x504

Current COUNTER value

 
PRESCALER 0x508

12 bit prescaler for COUNTER frequency (32768/(PRESCALER+1)).Must be written when RTC is stopped

 
CC[0] 0x540

Compare register 0

 
CC[1] 0x544

Compare register 1

 
CC[2] 0x548

Compare register 2

 
CC[3] 0x54C

Compare register 3

 

INTENSET

Address offset: 0x304

Enable interrupt

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                         F E D C                             B A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

TICK

   

Write '1' to Enable interrupt for TICK event

See EVENTS_TICK

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

B RW

OVRFLW

   

Write '1' to Enable interrupt for OVRFLW event

See EVENTS_OVRFLW

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

C RW

COMPARE0

   

Write '1' to Enable interrupt for COMPARE[0] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[0]

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

D RW

COMPARE1

   

Write '1' to Enable interrupt for COMPARE[1] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[1]

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

E RW

COMPARE2

   

Write '1' to Enable interrupt for COMPARE[2] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[2]

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

F RW

COMPARE3

   

Write '1' to Enable interrupt for COMPARE[3] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[3]

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

 

INTENCLR

Address offset: 0x308

Disable interrupt

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                         F E D C                             B A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

TICK

   

Write '1' to Disable interrupt for TICK event

See EVENTS_TICK

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

B RW

OVRFLW

   

Write '1' to Disable interrupt for OVRFLW event

See EVENTS_OVRFLW

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

C RW

COMPARE0

   

Write '1' to Disable interrupt for COMPARE[0] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[0]

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

D RW

COMPARE1

   

Write '1' to Disable interrupt for COMPARE[1] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[1]

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

E RW

COMPARE2

   

Write '1' to Disable interrupt for COMPARE[2] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[2]

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

F RW

COMPARE3

   

Write '1' to Disable interrupt for COMPARE[3] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[3]

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

 

EVTEN

Address offset: 0x340

Enable or disable event routing

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                         F E D C                             B A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

TICK

   

Enable or disable event routing for TICK event

See EVENTS_TICK

     

Disabled

0

Disable

     

Enabled

1

Enable

B RW

OVRFLW

   

Enable or disable event routing for OVRFLW event

See EVENTS_OVRFLW

     

Disabled

0

Disable

     

Enabled

1

Enable

C RW

COMPARE0

   

Enable or disable event routing for COMPARE[0] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[0]

     

Disabled

0

Disable

     

Enabled

1

Enable

D RW

COMPARE1

   

Enable or disable event routing for COMPARE[1] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[1]

     

Disabled

0

Disable

     

Enabled

1

Enable

E RW

COMPARE2

   

Enable or disable event routing for COMPARE[2] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[2]

     

Disabled

0

Disable

     

Enabled

1

Enable

F RW

COMPARE3

   

Enable or disable event routing for COMPARE[3] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[3]

     

Disabled

0

Disable

     

Enabled

1

Enable

 

EVTENSET

Address offset: 0x344

Enable event routing

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                         F E D C                             B A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

TICK

   

Write '1' to Enable event routing for TICK event

See EVENTS_TICK

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

B RW

OVRFLW

   

Write '1' to Enable event routing for OVRFLW event

See EVENTS_OVRFLW

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

C RW

COMPARE0

   

Write '1' to Enable event routing for COMPARE[0] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[0]

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

D RW

COMPARE1

   

Write '1' to Enable event routing for COMPARE[1] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[1]

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

E RW

COMPARE2

   

Write '1' to Enable event routing for COMPARE[2] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[2]

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

F RW

COMPARE3

   

Write '1' to Enable event routing for COMPARE[3] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[3]

     

Set

1

Enable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

 

EVTENCLR

Address offset: 0x348

Disable event routing

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                         F E D C                             B A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

TICK

   

Write '1' to Disable event routing for TICK event

See EVENTS_TICK

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

B RW

OVRFLW

   

Write '1' to Disable event routing for OVRFLW event

See EVENTS_OVRFLW

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

C RW

COMPARE0

   

Write '1' to Disable event routing for COMPARE[0] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[0]

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

D RW

COMPARE1

   

Write '1' to Disable event routing for COMPARE[1] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[1]

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

E RW

COMPARE2

   

Write '1' to Disable event routing for COMPARE[2] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[2]

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

F RW

COMPARE3

   

Write '1' to Disable event routing for COMPARE[3] event

See EVENTS_COMPARE[3]

     

Clear

1

Disable

     

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

     

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

 

COUNTER

Address offset: 0x504

Current COUNTER value

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                 A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A R

COUNTER

   

Counter value

 

PRESCALER

Address offset: 0x508

12 bit prescaler for COUNTER frequency (32768/(PRESCALER+1)).Must be written when RTC is stopped

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                                         A A A A A A A A A A A A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

PRESCALER

   

Prescaler value

 

CC[0]

Address offset: 0x540

Compare register 0

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                 A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

COMPARE

   

Compare value

 

CC[1]

Address offset: 0x544

Compare register 1

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                 A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

COMPARE

   

Compare value

 

CC[2]

Address offset: 0x548

Compare register 2

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                 A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

COMPARE

   

Compare value

 

CC[3]

Address offset: 0x54C

Compare register 3

Bit number 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Id                 A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Reset 0x00000000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Id RW Field Value Id Value Description
A RW

COMPARE

   

Compare value

 

Electrical specification

RTC Electrical Specification

Symbol Description Min. Typ. Max. Units
IRTC

Run current Real Time Counter (LFCLK source)

0.1 µA
1 Assumes RTC runs continuously between these events.
Note: 32.768 kHz clock jitter is additional to the numbers provided above.

Documentation feedback | Developer Zone | Updated 2021-11-08