27.6.2.3 Measurement

In the Configuration A register, the Number of Reference Clock Cycles field (CFGA.REFNUM) selects the duration of the measurement. The measurement is given in number of GCLK_FREQM_REF periods.

Note: The REFNUM field must be written before the FREQM is enabled.

After the FREQM is enabled, writing a ‘1’ to the START bit in the Control B register (CTRLB.START) starts the measurement. The BUSY bit in Status register (STATUS.BUSY) is set when the measurement starts, and cleared when the measurement is complete.

There is also an interrupt request for Measurement Done: When the Measurement Done bit in Interrupt Enable Set register (INTENSET.DONE) is ‘1’ and a measurement is finished, the Measurement Done bit in the Interrupt Flag Status and Clear register (INTFLAG.DONE) will be set and an interrupt request is generated.

The result of the measurement can be read from the Value register (VALUE.VALUE). The frequency of the measured clock GCLK_FREQM_MSR is then:

f_{CLK_MSR} = (\frac{VALUE}{REFNUM}) f_{CLK_REF}

Note:

In order to make sure the measurement result (VALUE.VALUE[23:0]) is valid, the overflow status (STATUS.OVF) must be checked.
Due to asynchronous operations, the VALUE Error measurement can be up to two samples.

If an overflow condition occurred, indicated by the overflow bit in the STATUS register (STATUS.OVF), either the number of reference clock cycles must be reduced (CFGA.REFNUM) or a faster reference clock must be configured. Once the configuration is adjusted, clear the overflow status by writing a ‘1’ to STATUS.OVF. Then, another measurement can be started by writing a ‘1’ to CTRLB.START.

Note: See CFGA, CTRLB, STATUS, INTENSET, INTFLAG, VALUE registers in the Register Summary - FREQM from Related Links.