AM243x Motor Control SDK  2025.00.00
EnDat

Introduction

EnDat is a bidirectional interface for position encoders. During EnDat operation, the EnDat receiver receives position information from the EnDat position encoder.

Note
This implementation using Peripheral input/output mode of PRU-ICSS. Refer Peripheral IF mode for more details.

Features Supported

  • EnDat 2.2 command set
  • EnDat 2.1 command set
  • Interrupted and continuous clock mode
  • Cable length up to 100m @8MHz
  • Propagation delay compensation (capable of handling different propagation delays of different channels in concurrent multi-channel configuration) - Automatic estimation of propagation delay
  • Receive on-the-fly CRC verification of position, parameters and additional information
  • Two modes of operation - host trigger and periodic trigger
  • Channel select
  • Same clock frequency for all channels in multi channel mode within the same PRU-ICSS slice
    • Different PRU slices can simultaneously handle encoders operating at different frequencies
  • Support for periodic trigger using PRU-ICSS IEP timer module
  • Concurrent multi-channel support (up to 3 encoders with identical part numbers @ 8MHz maximum)
    • Data transmission and reception must happen simultaneously on all channels.
    • The encoder configuration and cable length should be the same on all channels.
    • If encoders across channels don't respond at the same time, this mode will not work. Load share configuration should be used instead.
  • "Multi Channel with encoders of different make" using load share mode (Refer Load Share Mode for more details)
    • Data transmission and reception can happen independently on all channels.
    • After a command is sent, all channels wait for a response and process the response independently. However, all channels must finish processing before the next command can be triggered.
  • Safety Readiness: Recovery time
  • Clock up to 16MHz with single channel and load share mode (multi-channel)
    Note
    In three channel interface of PRU-ICSS, receive (Rx) is oversampled at 8x of send (Tx). Therefore, the encoder interface frequency "f" should be such that Tx source clock value is divisible by "f" and Rx source clock value is divisible by "8*f".
  • Possible interface speeds with different source clock combinations:
    Clock Source

    Interface Speed

    PRU UART Clock (192 MHz) 1MHz, 2MHz, 4MHz, 6MHz, 8MHz, 12MHz, 16MHz
    PRU Core Clock (200 MHz)

    1MHz, 5MHz

Features Not Supported

In general, peripherals or features not mentioned as part of "Features Supported" section are not supported in this release, including the below:

  • Independent clock frequency for each channel in multi channel mode within the same PRU-ICSS slice
    • Clock frequency is a PRU-ICSS slice level configuration
    • Each channel within the same PRU-ICSS slice in multi-channel mode will have same clock frequencies
  • Continuous clock mode in Multi-channel single PRU mode

Limitations

This section describes known limitations of the current implementation in multi-channel single PRU mode.

  • Clock above 8 MHz: it is not possible to oversample, downsample and store one bit for all three channels in one clock cycle time.
  • Reset command CRC failure: The encoder which takes more time in reset operation will show CRC failure because the reset time is not the same for each encoder so the acknowledgment will not arrive at the same time for all encoders at the EnDat receiver end.

SysConfig Features

Note
It is strongly recommend to use SysConfig where it is available instead of using direct SW API calls. This will help simplify the SW application and also catch common mistakes early in the development cycle.
Attention
For each PRU-ICSS slice being used for EnDat, one module instance should be created in SysConfig. For up to 3 channels using 1 slice, only 1 instance needs to be added.

SysConfig can be used to configure the following:

  • Selecting the ICSS instance
  • Selecting the ICSSG instance (Tested on ICSSG0)
  • Selecting the ICSSG PRU slice (Tested on ICSSG0-PRU1)
  • Configuring PINMUX
  • Channel selection
  • Selecting Multi Channel with encoders of different make using load share mode
  • Enabling SA Mux mode
  • IEP instance and IEP event selection for periodic trigger mode
  • Selecting RX and TX source clock
  • Booster Pack Support: Enable when using BP-AM2BLDCSERVO
Note
EnDat firmware is tested with ICSS Core Clock running at 200 MHz/300 MHz frequency or ICSS UART Clock running at 192 MHz only.

Periodic Trigger Modes

The EnDat driver supports two types of periodic trigger modes for continuous position sampling:

CMP Mode (Compare Event Mode)

In CMP mode, the IEP timer compare event triggers position sampling. Compare events occur when the IEP timer counter matches the configured compare value. This mode enables fixed-rate periodic sampling.

Configuration:

  • Compare event range: CMP0-CMP15 (0-15)
  • Configured via endat_config_periodic_trigger_cmp_mode() API
  • IEP compare event number set via endat_config_iep_cmp_event() API
  • Event selection can be done in SysConfig
  • IEP configuration and CMP event configuration should be done in application. Driver uses above APIs to inform firmware to enable CMP periodic mode and uses the configured CMP event to start sampling periodically.

CAP Mode (Capture Event Mode)

In CAP mode, external signals trigger position sampling through IEP capture events. The capture event is triggered on the rising edge of the external input pulse, enabling event-driven position capture. Internal signals can also be mapped to IEP capture events via TIMESYNC/GPIOMUX router.

Configuration:

  • Capture event range: CAP0-CAP7 (0-7)
  • Configured via endat_config_periodic_trigger_cap_mode() API
  • IEP capture event number set via endat_config_iep_cap_event() API
  • Event selection can be done in SysConfig
  • IEP configuration and CAP event configuration should be done in application. Driver uses above APIs to inform firmware to enable CAP periodic mode and uses the configured CAP event to start sampling periodically.
Note
  • External signal must be routed to IEP capture input (if needed) in application
  • CAP6 and CAP7 support falling edge detection as well. In EnDat, rising edge is used always.
Attention
Both IEP event configuration APIs (endat_config_iep_cmp_event() and endat_config_iep_cap_event()) are automatically called during endat_init() with values configured in SysConfig.

PRU-ICSS Resource Usage

  • Utilizes the Peripheral IF mode (3-channel peripheral interface mode) for EnDat communication. Maximum of 3 channels are available per PRU slice. (Refer Peripheral IF mode for more details)
  • Each channel has 4 pins (Clock, Data out, Data in, Output enable)
  • Following table contains details of memory usage, IEP usage and interrupt controller usage:
Attention
In addition to the following resources used by PRU firmware, SDK examples also configure IEPx CMP0 for IEP counter reset in periodic trigger CMP mode and IEPx CMP1 for generating SYNC OUT0 used as input to CAP in periodic trigger CAP mode.
Configuration per slice PRU Core(s) Memory Usage IEP Usage Interrupt Controller (INTC) Usage

Description

Single channel PRUx DMEM:188 Bytes, from offset 0x00 to 0xBB offset
IMEM: ~ 5.57 kB
TCMB0: 40 Bytes, 40 Bytes of memory can be located anywhere within the offset range 0x00 to 0x78, depending on the selected channel.
CMP Mode: IEPx CMPy for trigger (IEPx and CMPy selected in SysConfig)
CAP Mode: IEPx CAPy for trigger (IEPx and CAPy selected in SysConfig)
INTC event/input number 18 or 21 (prx_pru_mst_intr[2/5]_intr_req) is used to trigger interrupt to Arm® Cortex®-R5F based on slice

IEP, CMP/CAP events and INTC signal are used only in periodic trigger modes

Multi-channel with single PRU core PRUx DMEM: 188 Bytes, from offset 0x00 to 0xBB offset
IMEM: ~ 6.71 KB
TCMB0:120 Bytes, from offset 0x00 to 0x78 offset
CMP Mode: IEPx CMPy for trigger (IEPx and CMPy selected in SysConfig)
CAP Mode: IEPx CAPy for trigger (IEPx and CAPy selected in SysConfig)
INTC event/input number 18 or 21 (prx_pru_mst_intr[2/5]_intr_req) is used to trigger interrupt to R5F based on slice IEP, CMP/CAP events and INTC signal are used only in periodic trigger modes
Multi-channel with load share across 3 PRU cores PRUx DMEM: 188 Bytes, from offset 0x00 to 0xBB offset
IMEM (per core): ~ 4.1 KB
TCMB0:120 Bytes, from offset 0x00 to 0x78 offset
CMP Mode: IEPx CMPy for trigger (IEPx and CMPy selected in SysConfig)
CAP Mode: IEPx CAPy for trigger (IEPx and CAPy selected in SysConfig)
INTC events/inputs number 18, 19, 20 or 21, 22, 23 (prx_pru_mst_intr[2/3/4/5/6/7]_intr_req) are used to trigger interrupts to R5F IEP, CMP/CAP events and INTC signals are used only in periodic trigger modes
RTU_PRUx

TX_PRUx

Attention
TCMB0 memory is a part of R5F, not PRU-ICSS.
Note
For pin usage, see Pin Multiplexing section.

ENDAT Design

EnDat Protocol Design explains the design in detail.

Example

EnDat Diagnostic

API

APIs for ENDAT Encoder

Note
Arm is a registered trademark of Arm Limited (or its subsidiaries or affiliates) in the US and/or elsewhere.