Faster Hub Update?
JonnyMac
Posts: 9,102
I have this bit of code that transfers 14 words from the cog to the hub. It works fine, at only takes about 1.5us at 200MHz.
update_hub mov idx, #1 mov ptrb, p_hub .loop altgw idx, #cogarray getword t1 wrword t1, ptrb++ incmod idx, #14 wc if_nc jmp #.loop
Could this be reduced to two lines with setq and wrword?
Note: There is a cog array of 8 longs (16 words); what I want to write to the hub is 14 words (skipping the first and last).
Comments
Fast block moves are long-sized only: setq + rdlong/wrlong/wmlong.
Oops - didn't totally read this. looking again
With your setup, probably this is going to be the best
The biggest hit will be missing the hub rotation by using wrword. If the 14 hub words were long aligned instead of being offset, then packing the words in cog and using setq #7-1 + wrlong would be faster but you would need 7 more cog registers.
Thanks for the reminder about rep, Ray; that shaved off about 50 clock ticks which is not insignificant -- and the code still meets my maniacal styling preferences.
More details for those interested: The RC receiver spits out a 32-byte packet (FlySky I-BUS). The first two bytes are a header, the next 28 are the low and high bytes of the channel values. The final two bytes are the checksum, which is $FFFF minus the sum of the previous 30 bytes.
It's all working nicely. I'll get it written up as a Quick Byte. This is the current state of the PASM driver.
Yeah, that makes sense. But not smart enough.
@JonnyMac think about it this way, your cog array is not 8 longs but 9 longs.
and you start writing/using your buffer from #cogarray word index 1 not 0.
The first word in #cogarray is 0. Then the Header word, then your Payload of 14 words is long aligned and you can just transfer 7 longs with setq to any HUB address and meet the hub windows.
Enjoy!
Mike
I understand. As ever, my first priority is clean code that doesn't have newcomers scratching their heads. For my own projects -- that will not be released into the general public -- I would add the extra long to the cog array and offset where the frame bytes are laid in such that channel 1 is long aligned. That's a good trick that I will keep handy, but not use in a bit of code that I will probably document for newcomers to learn from. This is for the FlySky I-BUS; I'm sure it will have some interest being the components are inexpensive. Next up is having the P2 respond to telemetry queries. I ordered some sensors so that I can watch the transactions between them and the RC receiver.
This should improve hub access timing:
Those SkyFlys are certainly cheap enough.
Makes my hardly used Spektrum DX6i an expensive dinosaur
However, I have way too many projects to risk looking too closely!
What is wrong with this?
Same thing that'll be wrong with mine - Too esoteric. Jon's making an effort to make his material educational.
https://charlesdickenspage.com/images/copping-twist-large.jpg
@TonyB_ and @evanh: I incorporated a number of your suggestions into my S.BUS driver (the I-BUS driver came after), and thanked you for those suggestions in the released code, and publicly during my presentation for Parallax on Wednesday. I appreciate your input -- I am here to learn, too. There is nothing wrong with any of it.
Yes. I have a very specific, very beginner-friendly style that I seek to maintain for code that I will share through presentations or articles (Quick Bytes or Nuts & Volts). That is to say that I will often take clarity over performance for my public projects.
Yes, they are. I bought one because it would do S.BUS output. One of my best friends, Rick, is an animatronics engineer and puppeteer in the movie and TV industry. ATM, he's very busy working on a couple Star Wars related TV shows. He uses his own P1 board in most of his projects, but when S.BUS was required he'd have to use an Arduino-based board that one of the other guys in the shop provides. Now he can use the P1 or P2 (he hasn't started with it yet) in S.BUS projects.
Another benefit of FlySky is that some of the receivers have a telemetry port that has already been exploited by others (open source flight controllers). I'm going to give it a try, too. Ken Gracey has a robot boat that he likes to drive around Lake Tahoe. He's presently using XBee to return GPS coordinates -- I'm hoping to be able to send that back to the FlySky transmitter.
WOW!
Getting telemetry back adds the complete icing on that cake!!!
That should be a quick byte all by itself. Beginner friendly totally has merit. People can get things going and once they do, no worries.
However, as a general tool to understand what can be done, walking people through this code, the fast zeroing code posted earlier and other high efficiency snippets can start to deliver for those newbies as they ramp up.
IMHO, of course.
Agreed. The "problem" is that none of the PASM experts have or are willing to take the time to teach PASM from the ground up. I do my best by including small bits of PASM in my projects and strive to make that code inviting for newcomers. Sometimes, though, I will trade super-easy, obvious code for elegant code that's easy to explain. For example, in one section of my original S.BUS driver I had something like this.
Tony or Evan -- I'm sorry that I don't remember which -- suggested this:
While not immediately obvious to most newcomers, it's very easy to explain -- and that's a requirement for me (since I do a lot of code explaining). Interestingly, one of their sophisticated suggestions was modified by Chip while I was giving my S.BUS presentation. Again, I started out very easy:
I believe it was Evan that suggested the following change. Again, not immediately obvious to new PASM programmers, but easy to explain.
Chip made it even easier to understand:
We have some amazingly gifted PASM programmers in the community, but no defined path (e.g., a book) to get people at my PASM skillset (or lower) to theirs. I hate that people seem to feel slighted because I don't incorporate every one of their suggestions into my objects -- it's not a slight, it's a decision based on trying to help newcomers move from where they are to where they would like to be.
Jon,
I congratulate you for keeping the code simple and easy to understand unless it's absolutely necessary for speed or space!
It's also easier to understand by experienced programmers even if they can see better ways, or, when you go back to the code at a later date.
BTW the above code is missing the line wrlong t2, ptrb++ in both check_ch17 sets.
And in check_ch18 bitc is setting tmp1 but the wrlong saves tmp2.
Certainly not slighted from over here. I knew before I posted my tweak that it probably wouldn't be a go. I even thought about roping in the FIFO with an alternative method but that has setup and completion requirements and Tony's method is still the fastest.
I keep forgetting about those features in assembly. I'm more than comfortable with 10<<5.
Right. Please don't get me wrong. You are nailing it and I would never suggest you change a thing.
Was more about mentioning an opportunity for someone to fill a gap to come upon us soon.
I'm not upset my suggestion was not implemented, just a little bemused as the original question was about SETQ + WRxxxx. Below are various code options with cycle timings.
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
All timings calculated, assuming p_hub long-aligned.
Option 1 misses next egg beater slice seven times.
Option 2 does not miss any egg beater slices.
Option 3 shows huge time saving with fast block move.
Option 4 requires 9-long cogarray as already mentioned.
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