9.4.6.12 Last Channel Specific Measurement Trigger

The last channel (higher index available) embeds a specific mode allowing a measurement trigger period which differs from other active channels. This allows efficient management of the conversions especially if the channel is driven by a device with a variation of a different frequency from other converted channels (for example, but not limited to, temperature sensor).

The last channel can be sampled in different ways through the ADC Controller. The different methods of sampling depend on the ADC_TRGR.TRGMOD configuration field and on ADC_CHSR.CH7.

The last channel conversion can be triggered like the other channels by enabling ADC_CHER.CH7.

The manual start can only be performed if field TRGMOD = 0. When ADC_CR.START is set, the last channel conversion is scheduled together with the other enabled channels (if any). The result of the conversion is placed in the ADC_CDR7 register, and the associated ADC_ISR.EOC7 flag is set.

If the last channel is enabled in the Channel Status register (ADC_CHSR), ADC_LCTMR.DUALTRIG is cleared and field TRGMOD = 1, 2, 3, 5, the last channel is periodically converted together with the other enabled channels and the result is placed in the ADC_LCDR and ADC_CDR7 registers. Thus the last channel conversion result is part of the DMA Controller buffer (see the following figure).

When the conversion result matches the conditions defined in ADC_LCTMR and ADC_LCCWR, the ADC_ISR.LCCHG flag is set.

If the last channel is driven by a device with a slower variation compared to other channels (temperature sensor for example), the channel can be enabled/disabled at any time. However, this may not be optimal for downstream processing.

The ADC Controller allows a different way of triggering the measurement when DUALTRIG is set in the Last Channel Trigger Mode register (ADC_LCTMR) but CH7 is not set in ADC_CHSR.

Under these conditions, the last channel conversion is triggered with a period defined by the field RTC_MR.OUTx (see Block Diagram for the value of ‘x’) while other channels are still active and triggered by internal/external triggers. The RTC event is processed on the next internal/external trigger event, as shown in the following figure. The internal/external trigger for other channels is selected through the ADC_MR.TRGSEL field.

When DUALTRIG = 1, the result of each conversion of channel 7 is only uploaded in the ADC_CDR7 register and not in ADC_LCDR (see the following figure). Therefore, there is no change in the structure of the peripheral DMA controller buffer due to the conversion of the last channel: only the enabled channels are kept in the buffer. The end of conversion of the last channel is reported by the ADC_ISR.EOC7 flag.

If DUALTRIG = 1 and field ADC_TRGR.TRGMOD = 0 and none of the channels are enabled in ADC_CHSR (ADC_CHSR = 0), then only channel 7 is converted at a rate defined by the trigger event signal that can be configured in RTC_MR.OUT1 (see the following figure).

This mode of operation, when combined with the Sleep mode operation of the ADC Controller, provides a low-power mode for last channel measure. This assumes there is no other ADC conversion to schedule at a high sampling rate or no other channel to convert.