3.4 Operating Modes Overview

This section gives an overview of the operating modes supported by the ATA8210/15 (see the following figure). For a more detailed description of the operating modes and their transitions, see later sections.

After connecting the supply voltage to the VS pin, the ATA8210/15 always starts in OFFMode. All internal circuits are disconnected from the power supply. Therefore, no SPI communication is supported. The ATA8210/15 can be woken up by activating the PWRON pin or one of the NPWRONx pins. This triggers the power-on sequence. After the system initialization, the ATA8210/15 enters the IDLEMode.

The IDLEMode is the basic system mode supporting the SPI communication and transitions to all other operating modes. There are two options for the IDLEMode requiring configuration in the EEPROM settings:

• IDLEMode(RC) with low power consumption using the fast RC (FRC) oscillator for processing
• IDLEMode(XTO) with active crystal oscillator for high accuracy clock output or timing measurements

The Receive mode (RXMode) provides data reception on the selected service/channel configuration. The precondition for data reception is a valid preamble. The receiver continuously scans for a valid telegram and receives the data if all pre-configured checks are successful. The Set System Mode SPI command usually enables the RXMode or directly after power-on when selected in the EEPROM setting. See SPI Command Reference from Related Links.

In PollingMode, the receiver is activated for a short period of time to check for a valid telegram on the selected service/channel configurations. The receiver is deactivated if no valid telegram is found and a sleep period with very low power consumption elapses. This process is repeated periodically in accordance with the polling configuration. The initial settings are stored in the EEPROM and copied during firmware initialization to the SRAM. This allows modification of the PollingMode timing and service/channel configuration during IDLEMode.

The Tune and Check mode (TCMode) offers a calibration and self-checking functionality for the VCO and FRC oscillators, temperature measurement and polling cycle accuracy. Use the Calibrate and Check SPI command to activate the TCMode. See SPI Command Reference from Related Links. When selected in the EEPROM settings, tune and check tasks are also used during the system initialization after the power-on. Furthermore, they can also be activated periodically during PollingMode.

The following table provides details about the relations between the operating modes and their corresponding power supplies, clock sources and sleep mode settings.