Real-Time Clock (RTC)

Overview

Table 38 Glossary

Word

Definition

Real-time clock

Low power device tracking time using broken-down time

Real-time counter

Low power counter which can be used to track time

RTC

Acronym for real-time clock

An RTC is a low power device which tracks time using broken-down time. It should not be confused with low-power counters which sometimes share the same name, acronym, or both.

RTCs are usually optimized for low energy consumption and are usually kept running even when the system is in a low power state.

RTCs usually contain one or more alarms which can be configured to trigger at a given time. These alarms are commonly used to wake up the system from a low power state.

History of RTCs in Zephyr

RTCs have been supported before this API was created, using the Counter API. The unix timestamp was used to convert between broken-down time and the unix timestamp within the RTC drivers, which internally used the broken-down time representation.

The disadvantages of this approach where that hardware counters can not be set to a specific count, requiring all RTCs to use device specific APIs to set the time, converting from unix time to broken-down time, unnecessarily in some cases, and some common features missing, like input clock calibration and the update callback.

Configuration Options

Related configuration options:

API Reference

group rtc_interface

RTC Interface.

Unnamed Group

static inline struct tm *rtc_time_to_tm(struct rtc_time *timeptr)

Convenience function for safely casting a rtc_time pointer to a tm pointer.

Typedefs

typedef void (*rtc_update_callback)(const struct device *dev, void *user_data)

RTC update event callback.

Param dev:

Device instance invoking the handler

Param user_data:

Optional user data provided when update irq callback is set

typedef void (*rtc_alarm_callback)(const struct device *dev, uint16_t id, void *user_data)

RTC alarm triggered callback.

Param dev:

Device instance invoking the handler

Param id:

Alarm id

Param user_data:

Optional user data passed with the alarm configuration

typedef int (*rtc_api_set_time)(const struct device *dev, const struct rtc_time *timeptr)

API for setting RTC time.

typedef int (*rtc_api_get_time)(const struct device *dev, struct rtc_time *timeptr)

API for getting RTC time.

typedef int (*rtc_api_alarm_get_supported_fields)(const struct device *dev, uint16_t id, uint16_t *mask)

API for getting the supported fields of the RTC alarm time.

typedef int (*rtc_api_alarm_set_time)(const struct device *dev, uint16_t id, uint16_t mask, const struct rtc_time *timeptr)

API for setting RTC alarm time.

typedef int (*rtc_api_alarm_get_time)(const struct device *dev, uint16_t id, uint16_t *mask, struct rtc_time *timeptr)

API for getting RTC alarm time.

typedef int (*rtc_api_alarm_is_pending)(const struct device *dev, uint16_t id)

API for testing if RTC alarm is pending.

typedef int (*rtc_api_alarm_set_callback)(const struct device *dev, uint16_t id, rtc_alarm_callback callback, void *user_data)

API for setting RTC alarm callback.

typedef int (*rtc_api_update_set_callback)(const struct device *dev, rtc_update_callback callback, void *user_data)

API for setting RTC update callback.

typedef int (*rtc_api_set_calibration)(const struct device *dev, int32_t calibration)

API for setting RTC calibration.

typedef int (*rtc_api_get_calibration)(const struct device *dev, int32_t *calibration)

API for getting RTC calibration.

Functions

int rtc_set_time(const struct device *dev, const struct rtc_time *timeptr)

API for setting RTC time.

Parameters:
  • dev – Device instance

  • timeptr – The time to set

Returns:

0 if successful

Returns:

-EINVAL if RTC time is invalid or exceeds hardware capabilities

Returns:

-errno code if failure

int rtc_get_time(const struct device *dev, struct rtc_time *timeptr)

API for getting RTC time.

Parameters:
  • dev – Device instance

  • timeptr – Destination for the time

Returns:

0 if successful

Returns:

-ENODATA if RTC time has not been set

Returns:

-errno code if failure

struct rtc_time
#include <rtc.h>

Structure for storing date and time values with sub-second precision.

The structure is 1-1 mapped to the struct tm for the members tm_sec to tm_isdst making it compatible with the standard time library.

Note

Use rtc_time_to_tm() to safely cast from a rtc_time pointer to a tm pointer.

Public Members

int tm_sec

Seconds [0, 59]

int tm_min

Minutes [0, 59]

int tm_hour

Hours [0, 23]

int tm_mday

Day of the month [1, 31]

int tm_mon

Month [0, 11]

int tm_year

Year - 1900

int tm_wday

Day of the week [0, 6] (Sunday = 0) (Unknown = -1)

int tm_yday

Day of the year [0, 365] (Unknown = -1)

int tm_isdst

Daylight saving time flag [-1] (Unknown = -1)

int tm_nsec

Nanoseconds [0, 999999999] (Unknown = 0)

struct rtc_driver_api
#include <rtc.h>

RTC driver API.

RTC device driver test suite

The test suite validates the behavior of the RTC device driver. It is designed to be portable between boards. It uses the device tree alias rtc to designate the RTC device to test.

This test suite tests the following:

  • Setting and getting the time.

  • RTC Time incrementing correctly.

  • Alarms if supported by hardware, with and without callback enabled

  • Calibration if supported by hardware.

The calibration test tests a range of values which are printed to the console to be manually compared. The user must review the set and gotten values to ensure they are valid.

By default, only the mandatory Setting and getting time is enabled for testing. To test the optional alarms, update event callback and clock calibration, these must be enabled by selecting CONFIG_RTC_ALARM, CONFIG_RTC_UPDATE and CONFIG_RTC_CALIBRATION.

To build the test application with default settings for a board which contains the device tree alias rtc, the following command can be used for reference:

$ west build -p -b <your board> zephyr/tests/drivers/rtc/rtc_api/

To build the test with additional RTC features enabled, use menuconfig to enable the additional features. The following command can be used for reference:

$ west build -p -b <your board> -t menuconfig zephyr/tests/drivers/rtc/rtc_api/

Then build the test application using the following command

$ west build

To run the test suite, flash and run the application on your board, the output will be printed to the console.

Note

The tests take up to 30 seconds each if they are testing real hardware.