AceSPI

Unified interface for selecting hardware or software SPI implementations on Arduino platforms. The code was initially part of the AceSegment library, but was extracted into a separate library so that it can be shared with other projects. It provides the following implementations:

• HardSpiInterface
  • Hardware SPI using digitalWrite() to control the latch pin.
  • Depends on <SPI.h>.
• HardSpiFastInterface
  • Hardware SPI using digitalWriteFast() to control the latch pin.
  • Depends on <SPI.h>.
• SimpleSpiInterface
  • Software SPI using shiftOut()
• SimpleSpiFastInterface
  • Software SPI using digitalWriteFast() on AVR processors
  • Consumes only 9X less flash memory compared to HardSpiInterface (62 bytes of flash compared to 520 bytes).
  • Faster than HardSpiInterface (840 kbps versus 550 kbps).

Currently, this library supports writing from master to slave devices. It does not support reading from slave devices.

This library uses C++ templates to achieve minimal runtime overhead for the abstraction. In more technical terms, the library provides compile-time polymorphism instead of runtime polymorphism to avoid the overhead of the virtual keyword.

Version: 0.3 (2021-08-17)

Changelog: CHANGELOG.md

See Also:

• https://github.com/bxparks/AceTMI
• https://github.com/bxparks/AceWire

Table of Contents

• Installation
  • Source Code
  • Dependencies
• Documentation
• Usage
  • Include Header and Namespace
  • Unified Interface
  • HardSpiInterface
  • HardSpiFastInterface
  • SimpleSpiInterface
  • SimpleSpiFastInterface
  • Storing Interface Objects
  • Multiple SPI Buses
    • STM32
    • ESP32
• Resource Consumption
  • Flash And Static Memory
  • CPU Cycles
• System Requirements
  • Hardware
  • Tool Chain
  • Operating System
• License
• Feedback and Support
• Authors

Installation

The latest stable release is available in the Arduino IDE Library Manager. Search for "AceSPI". Click install.

The development version can be installed by cloning the GitHub repository, checking out the default develop branch, then manually copying over to or symlinking from the ./libraries directory used by the Arduino IDE. (The result is a directory or link named ./libraries/AceSPI.)

The master branch contains the stable releases.

Source Code

The source files are organized as follows:

• src/AceSPI.h - main header file
• src/ace_spi/ - implementation files
• docs/ - contains the doxygen docs and additional manual docs

Dependencies

The main AceSPI.h does not depend any external libraries.

The "Fast" versions (HardSpiFastInterface.h, SimpleSpiFastInterface.h) depend on one of the digitalWriteFast libraries, for example:

• https://github.com/watterott/Arduino-Libs/tree/master/digitalWriteFast
• https://github.com/NicksonYap/digitalWriteFast

Documentation

• this README.md file.
• Doxygen docs
  • On Github pages.
• Examples:
  • https://github.com/bxparks/AceSegment/tree/develop/examples/Hc595Demo
  • https://github.com/bxparks/AceSegment/tree/develop/examples/Max7219Demo

Usage

Include Header and Namespace

In many cases, only a single header file AceSPI.h is required to use this library. To prevent name clashes with other libraries that the calling code may use, all classes are defined in the ace_spi namespace. To use the code without prepending the ace_spi:: prefix, use the using directive:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>
using ace_spi::HardSpiInterface;
using ace_spi::SimpleSpiInterface;

The "Fast" versions are not included automatically by AceSPI.h because they work only on AVR processors and they depend on a <digitalWriteFast.h> library. To use the "Fast" versions, use something like the following:'

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>

#if defined(ARDUINO_ARCH_AVR)
  #include <digitalWriteFast.h>
  #include <ace_spi/HardSpiFastInterface.h>
  #include <ace_spi/SimpleSpiFastInterface.h>
  using ace_spi::HardSpiFastInterface;
  using ace_spi::SimpleSpiFastInterface;
#endif

Unified Interface

The classes in this library provide the following unified interface for handling SPI communication. Downstream classes can code against this unified interface using C++ templates so that different implementations can be selected at compile-time.

class XxxInterface {
  public:
    void begin() const;
    void end() const;
    void beginTransaction() const;
    void endTransaction() const;
    void transfer(uint8_t value) const;
    void transfer16(uint16_t value) const;

    void send8(uint8_t value) const;
    void send16(uint16_t value) const;
    void send16(uint8_t msb, uint8_t lsb) const;
};

Notice that the classes in this library do not inherit from a common interface with virtual functions. This saves several hundred bytes of flash memory on 8-bit AVR processors by avoiding the dynamic dispatch, and often allows the compiler to optimize away the overhead of calling the methods in this library so that the function call is made directly to the underlying implementation. The reduction of flash memory consumption is especially large for classes that use the digitalWriteFast libraries which use compile-time constants for pin numbers. The disadvantage is that this library is harder to use because these classes require the downstream classes to be implemented using C++ templates.

The beginTransaction() takes possession of the bus, and latches the CS/SS pin LOW to enable the slave device. The transfer(uint8_t) and transfer16(uint16_t) correspond to the matching methods in the SPIClass which send the actual bits to the bus. The endTransaction() latches the CS/SS pin HIGH to mark the end of the data transfer, and releases the bus.

The send8(uint8_t), send16(uint16_t), and send16(uint8_t, uint8_t) are convenience methods that wrap the following 3 common operations:

• beginTransaction() which pulls the CS/SS pin LOW,
• transfer() or transfer16() to transfer the data,
• endTransaction() which pulls the CS/SS pin HIGH.

These can help reduce the repetitive calls to beginTransaction() and endTransaction().

HardSpiInterface

The HardSpiInterface object is a thin wrapper around the SPI object from <SPI.h>. It implements the unified interface described above like this:

namespace ace_spi {

template <
    typename T_SPI,
    uint32_t T_CLOCK_SPEED = 8000000
>
class HardSpiInterface {
  public:
    explicit HardSpiInterface(T_SPI& spi, uint8_t latchPin);

    void begin() const;
    void end() const;
    void beginTransaction() const;
    void endTransaction() const;
    void transfer(uint8_t value) const;
    void transfer16(uint16_t value) const;

    void send8(uint8_t value) const;
    void send16(uint16_t value) const;
    void send16(uint8_t msb, uint8_t lsb) const;
};

}

The calling code MyClass that uses HardSpiInterface is configured like this:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>
using ace_spi::HardSpiInterface;

template <typename T_SPII>
class MyClass {
  public:
    explicit MyClass(const T_SPII& spiInterface)
        : mSpiInterface(spiInterface)
    {...}

    void writeData() {
      // Send 1 byte.
      uint8_t b = ...;
      mSpiInterface.send8(d);

      // Send 2 bytes.
      uint8_t msb = ...;
      uint8_t lsb = ...;
      mSpiInterface.send16(msb, lsb);

      // Send 1 word, msb first.
      uint16_t w = ...;
      mSpiInterface.send16(w);
    }

  private:
    const T_SPII mSpiInterface; // copied by value
};

const uint8_t LATCH_PIN = SS;

using SpiInterface = HardSpiInterface<SPIClass>;
SpiInterface spiInterface(spiInstance, LATCH_PIN);
MyClass<SpiInterface> myClass(spiInterface);

void setup() {
  SPI.begin();
  spiInterface.begin();
  ...
}

The using statement is the C++11 version of a typedef that defines SpiInterface. It is not strictly necessary here, but it allows the same pattern to be used for the more complicated examples below.

The T_SPII template parameter contains a T_ prefix to avoid name collisions with too many #define macros defined in the global namespace on Arduino platforms. The double II contains 2 Interface, the first referring to the SPI protocol, and the second referring to classes in this library.

The latching of the device is attached to the SS pin. Other pins can be used. The latching is performed using the normal digitalWrite() function.

The SPI clock speed is defaults to 8000000 (8 MHz), but can be overridden through one of the template parameters. This class currently supports only SPI_MODE0 and MSBFIRST. If other SPI configurations are need, it is probably easiest to just copy the HardSpiInterface class and customize it.

HardSpiFastInterface

The HardSpiFastInterface is identical to HardSpiInterface except that it uses one of the digitalWriteFast libraries listed above, which reduces flash consumption on AVR processors, and makes the code run faster.

namespace ace_spi {

template <
    typename T_SPI,
    uint8_t T_LATCH_PIN,
    uint32_t T_CLOCK_SPEED = 8000000
>
class HardSpiFastInterface {
  public:
    explicit HardSpiFastInterface(T_SPI& spi);

    void begin() const;
    void end() const;
    void beginTransaction() const;
    void endTransaction() const;
    void transfer(uint8_t value) const;
    void transfer16(uint16_t value) const;

    void send8(uint8_t value) const;
    void send16(uint16_t value) const;
    void send16(uint8_t msb, uint8_t lsb) const;
};

}

The calling code MyClass that uses HardSpiInterface is configured like this:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>
#if defined(ARDUINO_ARCH_AVR)
  #include <ace_spi/HardSpiFastInterface.h>
  #include <digitalWriteFast.h>
  using ace_spi::HardSpiFastInterface;
#endif

template <typename T_SPII>
class MyClass {
  // Exactly the same as above.
};

const uint8_t LATCH_PIN = SS;

using SpiInterface = HardSpiFastInterface<SPIClass, LATCH_PIN>;
SpiInterface spiInterface(spiInstance);
MyClass<SpiInterface> myClass(spiInterface);

void setup() {
  SPI.begin();
  spiInterface.begin();
  ...
}

The latching on the SS pin is performed using the digitalWriteFast() function from one of the external "digitalWriteFast" libraries. According to MemoryBenchmark, HardSpiFastInterface saves about 100 bytes of flash memory compared to HardSpiInterface.

SimpleSpiInterface

The SimpleSpiInterface class is a software "bitbanging" implementation of SPI using the Arduino built-in shiftOut() function, which uses digitalWrite() underneath the covers. Any appropriate GPIO pin can be used for software SPI, instead of being restricted to the hardware SPI pins.

namespace ace_spi {

class SimpleSpiInterface {
  public:
    explicit SimpleSpiInterface(
        uint8_t latchPin,
        uint8_t dataPin,
        uint8_t clockPin
    );

    void begin() const;
    void end() const;
    void beginTransaction() const;
    void endTransaction() const;
    void transfer(uint8_t value) const;
    void transfer16(uint16_t value) const;

    void send8(uint8_t value) const;
    void send16(uint16_t value) const;
    void send16(uint8_t msb, uint8_t lsb) const;
};

}

We can make our MyClass use this interface like this:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>
using ace_spi::SimpleSpiInterface;

template <typename T_SPII>
class MyClass {
  // Exactly the same as above.
};

const uint8_t DATA_PIN = MOSI;
const uint8_t CLOCK_PIN = SCK;
const uint8_t LATCH_PIN = SS;

using SpiInterface = SimpleSpiInterface;
SpiInterface spiInterface(LATCH_PIN, DATA_PIN, CLOCK_PIN);
MyClass<SpiInterface> myClass(spiInterface);

void setup() {
  spiInterface.begin();
  ...
}

The amount of flash memory used by SimpleSpiInterface is similar to HardSpiInterface, so the only compelling reason for using SimpleSpiInterface is the ability to use any GPIO pin for the MOSI, SCK and CS/SS pins. The big advantage of SimpleSpiInterface comes into play when the digitalWriteFast library is used instead, as described below.

SimpleSpiFastInterface

The SimpleSpiFastInterface class is the same as SimpleSpiInterface except that it uses the digitalWriteFast() and pinModeFast() functions provided by one of the digitalWriteFast libraries mentioned above. The pin numbers need to be compile-time constants, so they are passed in as template parameters, like this:

namespace ace_spi {

template <uint8_t T_LATCH_PIN, uint8_t T_DATA_PIN, uint8_t T_CLOCK_PIN>
class SimpleSpiFastInterface {
  public:
    explicit SimpleSpiFastInterface();

    void begin() const;
    void end() const;
    void beginTransaction() const;
    void endTransaction() const;
    void transfer(uint8_t value) const;
    void transfer16(uint16_t value) const;

    void send8(uint8_t value) const;
    void send16(uint16_t value) const;
    void send16(uint8_t msb, uint8_t lsb) const;
};

}

The code to configure the client code MyClass looks very similar:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>
#if defined(ARDUINO_ARCH_AVR)
  #include <digitalWriteFast.h>
  #include <ace_spi/SimpleSpiFastInterface.h>
  using ace_spi::SimpleSpiFastInterface;
#endif

template <typename T_SPII>
class MyClass {
  // Exactly the same as above.
};

const uint8_t DATA_PIN = MOSI;
const uint8_t CLOCK_PIN = SCK;
const uint8_t LATCH_PIN = SS;

using SpiInterface = SimpleSpiFastInterface<LATCH_PIN, DATA_PIN, CLOCK_PIN>;
SpiInterface spiInterface;
MyClass<SpiInterface> myClass(spiInterface);

void setup() {
  spiInterface.begin();
  ...
}

According to MemoryBenchmark, the use of a digitialWriteFast library eliminates the pin-to-port mapping arrays, and reduces the flash memory consumption by about 450 bytes on AVR processors. Only a mere 72 bytes of flash is consumed by this implementation on an AVR. And AutoBenchmark shows that SimpleSpiFastInterface can be almost as fast as the hardware <SPI.h> library. On resource constrained applications on AVR processors, the SimpleSpiFastInterface is a worthy alternative.

Storing Interface Objects

In the above examples, the MyClass object holds the T_SPII interface object by value. In other words, the interface object is copied into the MyClass object. This is efficient because interface objects are very small in size, and copying them by-value avoids an extra level of indirection when they are used inside the MyClass object. The compiler will generate code that is equivalent to calling the underlying SPIClass methods through an SPIClass pointer.

The alternative is to save the T_SPII object by reference like this:

template <typename T_SPII>
class MyClass {
  public:
    explicit MyClass(const T_SPII& spiInterface)
        : mSpiInterface(spiInterface)
    {...}

    [...]

  private:
    const T_SPII& mSpiInterface; // copied by reference
};

The internal size of the HardSpiInterface object is just a single reference to the T_SPII object and one additional byte for the latchPin, so there is almost difference in the static memory size. However, storing the mSpiInterface as a reference causes an unnecessary extra layer of indirection every time the mSpiInterface object is called. In almost every case, I recommend storing the XxxInterface object by value into the MyClass object.

Multiple SPI Buses

Some processors (e.g. STM32, ESP32) have multiple hardware SPI buses. Here are some notes about how to configure them.

STM32 (STM32F103)

The STM32F103 "Blue Pill" has 2 SPI buses:

• SPI1
  • SS1 = SS = PA4
  • SCK1 = SCK = PA5
  • MISO1 = MISO = PA6
  • MOSI1 = MOSI = PA7
• SPI2
  • SS2 = PB12
  • SCK2 = PB13
  • MISO2 = PB14
  • MOSI2 = PB15

The primary (default) SPI interface is used like this:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>
using ace_spi::HardSpiInterface;

template <typename T_SPII>
class MyClass {
  // Exactly the same as above.
};

const uint8_t LATCH_PIN = SS;
const uint8_t DATA_PIN = MOSI;
const uint8_t CLOCK_PIN = SCK;

using SpiInterface = HardSpiInterface<SPIClass>;
SpiInterface spiInterface(SPI, LATCH_PIN);
MyClass<SpiInterface> myClass(spiInterface);

void setup() {
  SPI.begin();
  spiInterface.begin();
  ...
}

The second SPI interface can be used like this:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>
using ace_spi::HardSpiInterface;

template <typename T_SPII>
class MyClass {
  // Exactly the same as above.
};

const uint8_t LATCH_PIN = PB12;
const uint8_t DATA_PIN = PB15;
const uint8_t CLOCK_PIN = PB13;

SPIClass spiSecondary(DATA_PIN, PB14 /*miso*/, CLOCK_PIN);
using SpiInterface = HardSpiInterface<SPIClass>;
SpiInterface spiInterface(spiSecondary, LATCH_PIN);
MyClass<SpiInterface> myClass(spiInterface);

void setupAceSegment() {
  spiSecondary.begin();
  spiInterface.begin();
  ...
}

ESP32

The ESP32 has 4 SPI buses, of which 2 are available for general purposes. The default GPIO pin mappings are:

• SPI2 (aka HSPI)
  • MOSI = 13
  • MISO = 12
  • SS = 15
  • SCK = 14
• SPI3 (aka VSPI, default)
  • MOSI = 23
  • MISO = 19
  • SS = 5
  • SCK = 18

(My understanding is that the ESP32 has some sort of GPIO pin remapping matrix that can reroute these pins to other pins, but my knowledge of this capability is limited.)

The primary (default) SPI instance uses the VSPI bus and is used like this:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>
using ace_spi::HardSpiInterface;

template <typename T_SPII>
class MyClass {
  // Exactly the same as above.
};

const uint8_t LATCH_PIN = SS;
const uint8_t DATA_PIN = MOSI;
const uint8_t CLOCK_PIN = SCK;

using SpiInterface = HardSpiInterface<SPIClass>;
SpiInterface spiInterface(SPI, LATCH_PIN);
MyClass<SpiInterface> myClass(spiInterface);

void setupAceSegment() {
  SPI.begin();
  spiInterface.begin();
  ...
}

The secondary HSPI bus can be used like this:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <AceSPI.h>
using ace_spi::HardSpiInterface;

template <typename T_SPII>
class MyClass {
  // Exactly the same as above.
};

const uint8_t LATCH_PIN = 15;
const uint8_t DATA_PIN = 13;
const uint8_t CLOCK_PIN = 14;

SPIClass spiSecondary(HSPI);
using SpiInterface = HardSpiInterface<SPIClass>;
SpiInterface spiInterface(spiSecondary, LATCH_PIN);
MyClass<SpiInterface> myClass(spiInterface);

void setupAceSegment() {
  spiSecondary.begin();
  spiInterface.begin();
  ...
}

Resource Consumption

Flash And Static Memory

The Memory benchmark numbers can be seen in examples/MemoryBenchmark. Here are 2 samples:

Arduino Nano

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| functionality                   |  flash/  ram |       delta |
|---------------------------------+--------------+-------------|
| baseline                        |    456/   11 |     0/    0 |
|---------------------------------+--------------+-------------|
| HardSpiInterface                |    978/   16 |   522/    5 |
| HardSpiFastInterface            |    884/   12 |   428/    1 |
| SimpleSpiInterface              |    936/   14 |   480/    3 |
| SimpleSpiFastInterface          |    518/   11 |    62/    0 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

ESP8266

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| functionality                   |  flash/  ram |       delta |
|---------------------------------+--------------+-------------|
| baseline                        | 256700/26784 |     0/    0 |
|---------------------------------+--------------+-------------|
| HardSpiInterface                | 258456/26816 |  1756/   32 |
| SimpleSpiInterface              | 257384/26800 |   684/   16 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

CPU Cycles

The CPU benchmark numbers can be seen in examples/AutoBenchmark. Here are 2 samples:

Arduino Nano

+-----------------------------------------+-------------------+----------+
| Functionality                           |   min/  avg/  max | eff kbps |
|-----------------------------------------+-------------------+----------|
| HardSpiInterface                        |   108/  117/  124 |    547.0 |
| HardSpiFastInterface                    |    28/   30/   36 |   2133.3 |
| SimpleSpiInterface                      |   860/  891/  956 |     71.8 |
| SimpleSpiFastInterface                  |    76/   76/   84 |    842.1 |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------------+----------+

ESP8266

+-----------------------------------------+-------------------+----------+
| Functionality                           |   min/  avg/  max | eff kbps |
|-----------------------------------------+-------------------+----------|
| HardSpiInterface                        |    69/   73/  133 |    876.7 |
| SimpleSpiInterface                      |   207/  208/  238 |    307.7 |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------------+----------+

System Requirements

Hardware

This library has Tier 1 support on the following boards:

• Arduino Nano (16 MHz ATmega328P)
• SparkFun Pro Micro (16 MHz ATmega32U4)
• SAMD21 M0 Mini (48 MHz ARM Cortex-M0+)
• STM32 Blue Pill (STM32F103C8, 72 MHz ARM Cortex-M3)
• NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E module, 80MHz ESP8266)
• WeMos D1 Mini (ESP-12E module, 80 MHz ESP8266)
• ESP32 dev board (ESP-WROOM-32 module, 240 MHz dual core Tensilica LX6)
• Teensy 3.2 (72 MHz ARM Cortex-M4)

Tier 2 support can be expected on the following boards, mostly because I don't test these as often:

• ATtiny85 (8 MHz ATtiny85)
• Arduino Pro Mini (16 MHz ATmega328P)
• Teensy LC (48 MHz ARM Cortex-M0+)
• Mini Mega 2560 (Arduino Mega 2560 compatible, 16 MHz ATmega2560)

The following boards are not supported:

• Any platform using the ArduinoCore-API (https://github.com/arduino/ArduinoCore-api). For example:
  • Nano Every
  • MKRZero
  • Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040

Tool Chain

• Arduino IDE 1.8.13
• Arduino CLI 0.14.0
• SpenceKonde ATTinyCore 1.5.2
• Arduino AVR Boards 1.8.3
• Arduino SAMD Boards 1.8.9
• SparkFun AVR Boards 1.1.13
• SparkFun SAMD Boards 1.8.3
• STM32duino 2.0.0
• ESP8266 Arduino 2.7.4
• ESP32 Arduino 1.0.6
• Teensyduino 1.53

Operating System

I use Ubuntu 20.04 for the vast majority of my development. I expect that the library will work fine under MacOS and Windows, but I have not explicitly tested them.

License

MIT License

Feedback and Support

If you have any questions, comments, or feature requests for this library, please use the GitHub Discussions for this project. If you have bug reports, please file a ticket in GitHub Issues. Feature requests should go into Discussions first because they often have alternative solutions which are useful to remain visible, instead of disappearing from the default view of the Issue tracker after the ticket is closed.

Please refrain from emailing me directly unless the content is sensitive. The problem with email is that I cannot reference the email conversation when other people ask similar questions later.

Authors

Created by Brian T. Park ([email protected]).