PWM

The phyCORE-AM65x SOM brings out a selection of GPIOs that can be muxed to output a PWM signal. On the development kit you can access one of these signals through the PHYTEC Expansion board (PCM-957) at pin 35D. This guide walks through the basic steps of exporting this channel, configuring it, and enabling it to control the brightness of an LED.

Connecting an LED
Signal Name	Expansion Board Pin #	Description
X_ECAP0_IN_APWM_OUT	35D	3.3V PWM Channel

Warning

The signal X_ECAP0_IN_APWM_OUT is used for OLDI backlight display by default. Disconnect the display when using this PWM for other purposes.

Set up Hardware Configuration

../_images/pcm-067-gpio-expansion_pins.png

../_images/pcm-067-pwm-expansion-pin.png

Set up Software Configuration

In order to be accessible in Linux, the PWM channels need to be configured in the Linux device tree. PHYTEC has provided a sample device tree overlay in the boot directory of the root file system which configures expansion connector interfaces used in this Peripheral Guide. To enable this device tree overlay:

The device tree overlay is set in U-Boot.
To enter U-Boot, hit any key within 3 seconds of powering on the hardware to halt autoboot.
Clear the “default_overlays” variable and modify the “extra_overlays” variable to point to the sample dtbo: “k3-am65xx-phytec-expansion-sample.dtbo”. The “default_overlays” variable needs to be cleared because it is set to k3-am65xx-phytec-lcd-018.dtbo which conflicts with the sample.
Target (U-Boot)
```
setenv default_overlays
setenv extra_overlays k3-am65xx-phytec-expansion-sample.dtbo
saveenv
```
To exit U-Boot and continue booting into Linux, type boot
Target (U-Boot)
```
boot
```

Warning

The Expansion Sample overlay k3-am65xx-phytec-expansion-sample.dtbo conflicts with the LCD-018 overlay due to the PWM being used for backlight in the LCD-018. Make sure to disconnect the display when using this overlay before powering on the development kit.

Access PWM in Linux

To request a PWM channel from the kernel, write a 0 to the export attribute:
Target (Linux)
```
echo 0 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip0/export
```
The duty cycle and period are set to 0 by default. You will need to configure these before enabling the PWM channel:
Target (Linux)
```
echo 1000000 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/period
echo 100000 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/duty_cycle
```

Note

The duty cycle and period attributes are expressed in nanoseconds (10-9 seconds). For this example we are using a period of 1 ms with a duty cycle of .1 ms which is the same as saying our signal is at 1 kHz with a 10 percent duty cycle.

Enable the channel:

Target (Linux)

echo 1 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/enable

You should now see that the LED is very dim. To increase the brightness, you must increase the duty cycle. The following command changes the duty cycle to 50%.
Target (Linux)
```
echo 500000 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/duty_cycle
```
The following command increases the duty cycle to 90%.
Target (Linux)
```
echo 900000 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/duty_cycle
```

Disabling the Channel

Target (Linux)

echo 0 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip0/pwm0/enable

Un-Exporting the Channel

Target (Linux)

echo 0 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip0/unexport

Revert to the Default Software Configuration

This guide requires disabling the LCD-018 and enabling a sample expansion overlay. In order to revert back to the default overlay settings, the following needs to be run in U-Boot:

To enter U-Boot, hit any key within 3 seconds of powering on the hardware to halt autoboot.
Target (U-Boot)
```
env default -f -a
saveenv
```

~