Pulse width modulation

In this tutorial I cover the following topics

Introduction
Microcontroller's pins
Experiments
PWM -- Hardware switching
Application 1: LED
Application 2: control RGB LED
Application 3: servo

Microcontroller's pins

I explain different type of microcontroller's pins in Different voltage level coexistence part. Please refere to section Type of pins if this topic is new for you or you don't remember this material.

Experiments

Experiment 1

Turn on and turn off LED with low rate (1000ms for each state). Voltage changes from LOW level to HIGH level and back.

Turned off (LOW voltage level, close to 0V):

Turned on (HIGH voltage level, close to 5V):

Experiment 2

High-speed switching (1ms for each state).

Now voltage is very stable, around 2.2V:

This is in accordance with expectation as 1/(1+1) * 5V = 2.5V. Because as we have seen in Experiment 1 HIGH voltage is not exactly 5V but 4.5V so 1/2*4.5V=2.25V.

Circuit with two "reference" LEDs: one (most left) always turend off, and second (most right) always on:

Experiment 3

High speed switching but with different length of LOW and HIGH state.

HIGH 1ms, LOW 2ms. Expected voltage is: 1/(1+2)*5V = 1.66V. Taking into account that voltage is rather 4.5V than 5V, expected result is: 1/3 * 4/5V = 1.5V:

Now "reverse" proportions and set HIGH state to take 2ms while LOW state take 1ms. For these assumptions you will obtain:2/3 * 4.5V =3.0V:

And finally make a test for HIGH state taking 1ms and LOW state taking 9ms: 1/10 *4.5V = 0.45V = 450mV:

Experiment 4

This experiment requires you to add potentiometer to use analog signal to control LED brightnes without the need of programming microcontroller again and again.

Experiment 4.1: Visible flickering

#define PIN_LED 12
#define VOLTAGE A0
#define DELAY_TIME 1

void setup() {
  pinMode(PIN_LED, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  int brightness = analogRead(VOLTAGE);
  brightness = (int)(brightness * (35.0 / 1023.0));
  
  digitalWrite(PIN_LED,HIGH);
  delay(DELAY_TIME);
  digitalWrite(PIN_LED,LOW);
  delay(brightness);
}

#define PIN_LED 12

#define VOLTAGE A0

#define DELAY_TIME 1

void setup() {

pinMode(PIN_LED, OUTPUT);

}

void loop() {

int brightness = analogRead(VOLTAGE);

brightness = (int)(brightness * (35.0 / 1023.0));

digitalWrite(PIN_LED,HIGH);

delay(DELAY_TIME);

digitalWrite(PIN_LED,LOW);

delay(brightness);

}

With the above code you can control brightness but you will see visible and annoying flickering.

Experiment 4.2: Visible flickering for selected value

From previous experiment you know that for high brightness value LED brightness is lower than maximum brightness but with accompany of visible flickering. Particulary this flickering is visible when you substitute 35 for brightness:

[...]

void loop() {  
  digitalWrite(PIN_LED,HIGH);
  delay(DELAY_TIME);
  digitalWrite(PIN_LED,LOW);
  delay(35);
}

[...]

void loop() {

digitalWrite(PIN_LED,HIGH);

delay(DELAY_TIME);

digitalWrite(PIN_LED,LOW);

delay(35);

}

In this case the ratio of LOW to HIGH state is equall to 1/35 and the total time of one HIGH-LOW cycle is equal to 36 (milliseconds).

Experiment 4.3: Keep the same proportion but make the whole cycle shorter

In this experiment you take flickering code from previous experiment number 4.2 and preserving ratio of LOW to HIGH state which is equall to 1/35 as well as cycle time which is equal to 36 you change (decrease) time unit from milliseconds to microseconds:

[...]

void loop() {  
  digitalWrite(PIN_LED,HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(DELAY_TIME);
  digitalWrite(PIN_LED,LOW);
  delayMicroseconds(35);
}

[...]

void loop() {

digitalWrite(PIN_LED,HIGH);

delayMicroseconds(DELAY_TIME);

digitalWrite(PIN_LED,LOW);

delayMicroseconds(35);

}

Now some magic happends. Ratio of LOW to HIGH state is the same but because of different time unit flickering is not visible now.

Experiment 4.4: Full control of brightness without flickering thanks to using shorter cycles

With the following code:

[...]

void loop() {
  int brightness = analogRead(VOLTAGE);
  int vH = brightness;
  int vL = 1023-brightness;
  
  digitalWrite(PIN_LED,HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(vH);
  digitalWrite(PIN_LED,LOW);
  delayMicroseconds(vL);
}

[...]

void loop() {

int brightness = analogRead(VOLTAGE);

int vH = brightness;

int vL = 1023-brightness;

digitalWrite(PIN_LED,HIGH);

delayMicroseconds(vH);

digitalWrite(PIN_LED,LOW);

delayMicroseconds(vL);

}

you get full control of brightness without flickering thanks to using shorter cycles.

Conclusions

The proportion between HIGH state and LOW state are important as this decide about (averaged) output voltage. All timings given below have the same proportion:

HIGH = 1000
LOW  = 1000
proportion = 1/1

HIGH = 100
LOW  = 100
proportion = 1/1

HIGH = 1
LOW  = 1
proportion = 1/1

HIGH = 1000

LOW = 1000

proportion = 1/1

HIGH = 100

LOW = 100

proportion = 1/1

HIGH = 1

LOW = 1

proportion = 1/1

but, as you have seen in experiments, output volatage was the most stable in the last case, where total time of one HIGH-LOW cycle was the shortest.

In consequence, you can say that both proportion and time window (total time of one cycle) is important.

PWM -- Hardware switching

PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)

100% duty cycle (always on):
50% duty cycle (on half the time):
10% duty cycle

Application 1: LED

Unfortunately Tinkercad seems to have some problems in this simulation (LED state in case 2 and 3 is incorrect).

0% duty cycle (LED is off)
50% duty cycle (half LED brightness)
100% duty cycle (full LED brightness)

Application 2: control RGB LED

PWM is especially useful to control RGB LED to get full range of colours.

You can apply one of the following codes to your RGB LED:

#define PIN_LED_RED 11
#define PIN_LED_GREEN 10
#define PIN_LED_BLUE 9

double percentage = 0.0;

void setup()
{
  pinMode(PIN_LED_RED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(PIN_LED_GREEN, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(PIN_LED_BLUE, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
  percentage = random(0, 100);
  analogWrite(PIN_LED_RED, (int)((255.0*percentage)/100.0));
  percentage = random(0, 100);
  analogWrite(PIN_LED_GREEN, (int)((255.0*percentage)/100.0));
  percentage = random(0, 100);
  analogWrite(PIN_LED_BLUE, (int)((255.0*percentage)/100.0));
  delay(500);
}

#define PIN_LED_RED 11

#define PIN_LED_GREEN 10

#define PIN_LED_BLUE 9

double percentage = 0.0;

void setup()

{

pinMode(PIN_LED_RED, OUTPUT);

pinMode(PIN_LED_GREEN, OUTPUT);

pinMode(PIN_LED_BLUE, OUTPUT);

}

void loop()

{

percentage = random(0, 100);

analogWrite(PIN_LED_RED, (int)((255.0*percentage)/100.0));

percentage = random(0, 100);

analogWrite(PIN_LED_GREEN, (int)((255.0*percentage)/100.0));

percentage = random(0, 100);

analogWrite(PIN_LED_BLUE, (int)((255.0*percentage)/100.0));

delay(500);

}

#define PIN_LED_RED 11
#define PIN_LED_GREEN 10
#define PIN_LED_BLUE 9

int r, g, b;

void setup()
{
  pinMode(PIN_LED_RED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(PIN_LED_GREEN, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(PIN_LED_BLUE, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
  for (r=0; r<255; r += 10) {
    for (g=0; g<255; g += 10) {
      for (b=0; b<255; b += 10) {
        analogWrite(PIN_LED_RED, r);
        analogWrite(PIN_LED_GREEN, g);
        analogWrite(PIN_LED_BLUE, b);
        delay(25);
      }
    }
  }
 
}

#define PIN_LED_RED 11

#define PIN_LED_GREEN 10

#define PIN_LED_BLUE 9

int r, g, b;

void setup()

{

pinMode(PIN_LED_RED, OUTPUT);

pinMode(PIN_LED_GREEN, OUTPUT);

pinMode(PIN_LED_BLUE, OUTPUT);

}

void loop()

{

for (r=0; r<255; r += 10) {

for (g=0; g<255; g += 10) {

for (b=0; b<255; b += 10) {

analogWrite(PIN_LED_RED, r);

analogWrite(PIN_LED_GREEN, g);

analogWrite(PIN_LED_BLUE, b);

delay(25);

}

Application 3: servo

Similar approach as for LED can be applied to control servos.

0% duty cycle
50% duty cycle
100% duty cycle