Pico SmartClock

A custom-built, real-time smart clock running on the Raspberry Pi Pico W using FreeRTOS, written in C++. Developed by Jezreel Tan.

📡 Live Data Dashboard

You can view the real-time data from this smart clock on ThingSpeak:

🔗 View on ThingSpeak

📑 Table of Contents

• 🕒 Overview
• 🔧 Features
• 📁 Project Structure
• 🚀 How It Works
  • Design Pattern
• 🔨 Build Instructions
  • Prerequisites
  • Build Steps
• 🔌 Flashing to Pico
• 📚 Dependencies
• 🔲 Block Diagram
• 📐 Schematic Diagram
• 📄 License
• 👤 Author

🕒 Overview

The Pico SmartClock is a lightweight embedded system designed for accurate real-time clock functionality on the Raspberry Pi Pico W. It is implemented with multithreading using **FreeRTOS** and includes modular support for I2C and PWM peripherals. This project showcases how a clean architecture can drive real-time behavior on a constrained embedded platform.

🔧 Features

• Real-time clock control with modular system component architecture
• Dual-core execution using multicore_launch_core1 for RTOS tasks
• FreeRTOS kernel integration with a custom CMake setup
• USB-based debugging with stdio_usb enabled
• Expandable component system via the SystemComponents class

📁 Project Structure

Pico_SmartClock/
├── Pico_SmartClock.cpp         # Main application entry point
├── CMakeLists.txt              # Build configuration using CMake
├── pico_sdk_import.cmake       # Imports the Pico SDK
├── bin/
│   └── FreeRTOS-Kernel/        # FreeRTOS kernel files
├── setup.hpp                   # System configuration and class declarations
└── .git/                       # Git repository metadata

🚀 How It Works

Main Application Logic (simplified)

int main() {
    stdio_init_all();                             // Initialize standard IO
    Smart_Clock.Initialize();                     // Set up clock components
    multicore_launch_core1(core1_rtos_process);   // Launch RTOS on core 1
    Smart_Clock.Run();                            // Main loop
    return 0;
}

void core1_rtos_process() {
    Smart_Clock.RunRTOS();                        // Execute RTOS tasks on the second core
}

Design Pattern

• SystemComponents handles I2C, PWM, and other hardware control.
• SYSTEM_class instance (Smart_Clock) manages scheduling and operations.
• Easily extendable by attaching new peripheral objects via components list.

🔨 Build Instructions

Prerequisites

• Raspberry Pi Pico SDK
• CMake >= 3.13
• ARM GCC Toolchain (arm-none-eabi-gcc)
• Python 3 and Git

Build Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/Pico_SmartClock.git
cd Pico_SmartClock

# Initialize submodules (for FreeRTOS etc.)
git submodule update --init --recursive

# Create build directory
mkdir build && cd build

# Run CMake configuration
cmake ..

# Compile the firmware
make

⚠️ Make sure PICO_SDK_PATH is correctly exported in your shell or set via CMake GUI.

🔌 Flashing to Pico

1. Press and hold the BOOTSEL button on your Pico.
2. Connect it to your PC via USB.
3. Drag and drop the generated .uf2 file (inside /build) to the RPI-RP2 drive.

📚 Dependencies

• Raspberry Pi Pico SDK
• FreeRTOS Kernel
• Pico libraries for hardware_pwm, hardware_i2c, and pico_multicore
• Optional: pico_cyw43_arch_lwip_poll for WiFi support

🔲 Block Diagram

📐 Schematic Diagram

📄 License

MIT License.

👤 Author

Jezreel Tan 📧 jvt6@hi.is

This project was created for embedded systems exploration and real-time application demos on low-power microcontrollers.