Freertos based environmental data acquisition using arm cortex m4 f core

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308
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Volume: 04 Issue: 04 | Apr-2015, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 680
FreeRTOS BASED ENVIRONMENTAL DATA ACQUISITION USING
ARM CORTEX M4F CORE
Yogita Patil1
, Sidharth Bhatia2
1
M.Tech. (Embedded Systems), EECE Department, ITM University, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
2
Assistant Professor, EECE Department, ITM University, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Abstract
In today’s decade of Big Data and complex computing, the Data acquisition systems hold a prime position. In this project, we
present a Data acquisition system, which runs on ARM Cortex M4F core microcontroller and this whole system is managed by a
real time operating system names FreeRTOS. Tiva C Series Launchpad is used as the board. The system is currently designed to
monitor only temperature. A temperature sensor will be used for monitoring temperature. The data received will be stored in SD
card. The main objective of this project is to design a data acquisition system, which is portable, cheaper and deterministic.
Currently available systems in market are expensive and bulky whereas this FreeRTOS based Data acquisition system is cheaper
and portable as well.
Keywords: FreeRTOS, ARM Cortex M4F core, Temperature sensor, Tiva C series Launchpad, SD card.
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1. INTRODUCTION
The field of embedded systems is vast and it‟s getting
broader day by day. In today‟s era of technology, where we
have got lots and loads of data, acquisition and managing
this data is also a big concern. There is unending need for
data acquisition system [1]. Managing such a vast and
enormous data is in itself a big task. So, such a system is
required for data acquisition which is first of all easy to use,
portable and cheap [2]. This paper gives a vivid description
of a system based on ARM [3][4][5] having Cortex M4F
core which is run by FreeRTOS. As an RTOS runs this
system [6], so task scheduling becomes possible and easier.
This system also has a provision to store data in SD card,
which can be used further for review. The paper is split into
various sections. The second section gives the basic concept
of the project. Hardware and software specifications are
covered in third section. Block diagram falls under fourth
section. Screen shot of results is shown in fifth section.
Sixth and seventh section deals with application areas and
advantages. Eighth section entails the conclusion along with
future work.
2. BASIC CONCEPT
The prime component in this project is the Tiva C Series
Launchpad. This Launchpad contains TM4C123GH6PM
microcontroller. The TM4C123GH6PM microcontroller has
ARM Cortex M4F [7] core. There is an inbuilt temperature
sensor [8] on the board, Tiva C Series Launchpad. This
temperature sensor on the PE3 pin helps to acquire precisely
environmental temperature [9][10]. RTOS is ported on the
microcontroller. Here, we have used FreeRTOS, as it is
open-source. So, FreeRTOS [11] is ported on to
TM4C123GH6PM microcontroller. Then FreeRTOS is
programmed for carrying out temperature acquisition task
[12]. Booster pack for SD card is interfaced on the
launchpad to interface the SD card. The data received is
stored onto SD card.
3. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DETAILS
There are always some Hardware and Software tools
required for a project. The different hardware and software
used in this project are listed as below:
3.1 Hardware Tools
 Tiva C Series Launchpad
 Temperature Sensor
 SD card Booster pack
3.2 Software Tools
 CCS (Code Composer Studio version5.4)
 FreeRTOS version8.0.1 (RTOS)
 Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
4. BLOCK DIAGRAM
The block diagram given below explains the whole process
of the system. The Tiva C Series Launchpad is the prime
component in this project. Tiva Launchpad is an ARM
based board. The microcontroller used in this kit is
TM4C123GH6PM which has ARM Cortex M4F core.
FreeRTOS is ported onto the microcontroller. FreeRTOS
helps in scheduling the temperature acquisition task
according to its priorities. So, it actually acts as an operating
system for the real time system. The temperature sensor is
inbuilt in this kit, it is at PE3 pin. It will sense the
temperature and give the data to FreeRTOS for scheduling.
The data acquired will be then redirected to SD card. This
SD card helps to store data acquired from sensor.

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Fig -1: Block Diagram
4.1 Tiva C Series Launchpad
Tiva C Series Launchpad is from the makers of Texas
Instruments. It is an improved version to the Stellaris
Launchpad. They are cheap, self-contained, single-board
microcontrollers, which features an ARM Cortex-M4F 32-
bit core. Launchpad provides top performance and advanced
integration. There are many input-output pins that have dual
functionality, which means that they can be easily be
configured as digital inputs or outputs, providing access to
variety of applications. The LaunchPad's TM4C123GH6PM
ARM Cortex M4F 32-bit microcontroller is capable of
fuelling up to 80 MHz. The controller can be run at lower
speed to reduce energy consumption. It has many features,
which makes it a worth choice.
4.2 FreeRTOS
FreeRTOS is an open source RealTime Operating system.
Its design is developed in such a way that it fits on very
small embedded systems and implements very minimalist
set of functions. It has many features, which makes it a good
choice to opt for. Amongst the various features, some of
them are as follows: preemptive tasks, a small footprint
written in C and compiled with various C compiler. It also
provides a provision to implement mutex binary and
counting semaphores and queues. FreeRTOS supports
unlimited number of tasks to be run as far as hardware can
handle it and of course memory too. There are many
functions available in FreeRTOS. The entire life cycle of a
task in FreeRTOS can be explained as follows. The “not
running” state can further be categorized as ready, blocked
and suspended. A task which is blocked can be changed to
suspended. A task which is running can be suspended. By
using different functions, one can switch between the not
running state and resume the function which the user wants.
The main aim of Task scheduling is to decide which task is
in “Ready” state which has to be run at a given time.
FreeRTOS achieves this purpose with priorities given to
tasks when they are created. Priority of a task is the prime
element the scheduler takes into account to decide which
task has to be switched in or switched out.
4.3 SDcard
SD card is used in this project, to store the acquired data
[13]. When the SD card is formatted, file system will be
written into flash region. So, this is the region where the file
system exists. „SD card controller‟ helps to communicate
„main core‟ with the external devices. It responds to a
certain set of standard SD commands and read/write data
from the memory core in [14]. SD card is interfaced with the
microcontroller using serial data bus. It is connected using
„SD buses‟. The „SD bus‟ is particularly designed for high
speed whereas the SPI bus can operate with much lower
speed only. The microcontroller can read/write data to the
memory core and read the registers using standard SD
commands send through these serial buses [15]. Before the
memory card starts responding to the commands, the
memory card should be triggered. Certain set of commands
should be shooted one after other to commence the SD card.
The SD card will switch to SD interfacing mode on reset.
5. PROCESS FLOW
The first and foremost task will be data acquisition. The
environmental temperature will be acquired by temperature
sensor. This temperature sensor will send the data to ADC.
The microcontroller TM4C123GH6PM on Tiva C Series
Launchpad, has 12 bit ADC in it. Now, FreeRTOS ported on
TM4C123GH6PM takes the lead. FreeRTOS will schedule
the temperature task and the resulting acquired data will be
written onto SD card. So, the temperature is written onto SD
card. This is how, the entire process flow takes place.
6. RESULT
Precise results have been obtained in laboratory by
following the above process flow. Figure 2 shows the
FreeRTOS ported onto Launchpad. The red LED shown in
the snapshot blinks after every 6 seconds. Figure 3 shows
the Launchpad interfaced with SD card. Booster packs for
SD card is used. Figure 4 shows the temperature reading
acquired in Code Composer Studio. It displays the
temperature in Celsius as well as Fahrenheit.
Fig -2: FreeRTOS ported on Launchpad

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Fig -3: Screenshot of Launchpad interfaced with SD card
Fig -4: Screenshot of obtained simulated results in CCS
7. APPLICATION AREAS
FreeRTOS (Free Real Time Operating System) based Data
Acquisition system can be used for environmental data
capturing. It can also be used for monitoring certain
parameters like Temperature, Humidity and Motion in
industries. Currently it is optimized to monitor just
temperature. It can be of profound use in cryogenic
industries for low temperature monitoring. This project can
be of utmost use in industrial applications. As it has the
capacity to store data, so this data can further be analyzed in
matlab to monitor the green house effect.
8. ADVANTAGES
The first and foremost advantage of this system is, it is
portable and cheap. It is light weight, unlike other systems
in market. It has data storage facility, which is another plus
point. This Data acquisition system runs on FreeRTOS,
which makes it a real robust system. The scheduling of task
is done at its best, which makes the system void of time
delays.
9. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE
There are ample of Data acquisition systems available in the
market, but we needed to design one which is cheaper than
most of them, portable and robust. So, we have successfully
made this system which is much cheaper and it uses ARM
Cortex M4F core i.e. TM4C123GH6PM microcontroller,
which is the latest and much efficient microcontroller. It
also has a facility to store data in a SD card which is worth
it. This project can be further enhanced by adding different
types of sensors like Humidity sensor and Motion sensor.
The acquired data can be sent on to the cloud and from there
using AMQP protocol, data can be accessed. Diverting data
on to server or cloud would help to increase the accessibility
of the data for the analysts or users.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude towards my mentor,
who always supported and encouraged me to do the things,
which i thought were impossible. I am highly obliged for his
guidance. I would also like to thank the entire faculty and
lab technicians of ITM University, Gurgaon. Again vote of
thanks for all the authors, whose work was helpful for me.
REFERENCES
[1]. Daogang Peng, Hao Zhang, Kai Zhang, Hui Li1, Fei
Xia, “Research and Development of the Remote I/O Data
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2009 IEEE
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[12]. Wenbin Huang, Guanglong Wang, Jianglei Lu, FengQi
Gao: “Research of wireless sensor networks for an
intelligent measurement system based on ARM ”, 2011
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BIOGRAPHIES
Yogita Patil is currently pursuing Masters
of Technology in Embedded Systems
from ITM University, Gurgaon, India.
Her areas of interest are Low Power
Embedded Systems, RTOS, Robotics.
Sidharth Bhatia has received his M.Tech
in Embedded Systems from SRM
University, Chennai. His areas of interest
are Remote sensing, Real time embedded
systems, High resolution satellite image
processing. He has various publications in
international journals and conferences.

Freertos based environmental data acquisition using arm cortex m4 f core

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Freertos based environmental data acquisition using arm cortex m4 f core