State machine problem

Question

I am trying to record the pulses from a water flow sensor using a state machine. My goal is to count the pulses until the flow stops (i.e. the rotor inside comes to rest). This will constitute a single reading. if there is no new pulse/interrupt 5 seconds after the rotor is stopped, the total pulse count is printed and pulse count is reset to zero for the subsequent readings.

However, in practice, I get a pulse count even when the sensor rotor is moving. The pulse count gets resets after 5 sec but the pulses between the new reading and until the rotor is stopped are somehow missed.

Could you please help me figure what am I doing wrong?

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <TelnetStream.h>

const byte pulsePin = 22;
byte volatile triggerCounter = 0;

byte newState = 0;

unsigned long newTime = 0;
unsigned long oldTime = 0;

unsigned long pulseCountNew = 0;

portMUX_TYPE mux = portMUX_INITIALIZER_UNLOCKED;

void IRAM_ATTR handleInterrupt()
{
  portENTER_CRITICAL_ISR(&mux);
  triggerCounter++;
  portEXIT_CRITICAL_ISR(&mux);
}

void stateMachine()
{

  switch (newState)
  {

  case 0 /* Reset */:
    newState = 1;

    break;

  case 1 /* Start */:

    if (triggerCounter > 0)
    {
      newState = 2;
    }
    break;

  case 2 /* Pulse count start */:

    pulseCountNew++;
    triggerCounter--;
    newTime = millis();
    newState = 3;

    break;

  case 3 /* Pulse count stop */:

    if (triggerCounter > 0)
    {
      newState = 2;
    }

    if (newTime - oldTime >= 5000)
    {
      oldTime = newTime;
      newState = 4;
    }
    break;

  case 4 /* Cycle complete */:
    newState = 0;
    TelnetStream.println("State 4");

    break;
  }
}

void setup()
{
  pinMode(pulsePin, INPUT_PULLUP);
  attachInterrupt(digitalPinToInterrupt(pulsePin), handleInterrupt, FALLING);
  TelnetStream.begin();
}

void loop()
{

  if (newState == 4)
  {

    TelnetStream.println(pulseCountNew);
    pulseCountNew = 0;
  }

  stateMachine();
}

Answer 1

I do this usually without an extra state variable.

unsigned long readSensor() {
  const unsigned long READING_TIMEOUT_MILLIS = 5000;
  static unsigned long lastReadingMillis;
  static unsigned long lastCounterValue;

  noInterrupts();
  unsigned long counter = triggerCounter;
  interrupts();

  if (counter != lastCounterValue) { // if new reading
    lastReadingMillis = millis(); // reset timout timer
    lastCounterValue = counter; 
  } else if (counter > 0 && (millis() - lastReadingMillis) > READING_TIMEOUT_MILLIS) { // if something was counted and is timeout
    noInterrupts();
    triggerCounter = 0;
    interrupts();
    lastCounterValue = 0;
    lastReadingMillis = 0;
    return counter;
  }
  return 0;
}

void loop() {
  unsigned long value = readSensor();
  if (value) {
    Serial.println(value);
  }
}

sorry, the code is not tested.