Generate rotary encoder signal

Question

I need to generate signals at the output of a Mega Arduino to simulate the signals of a rotary encoder. I know how to generate frequency signals through the function below. How could I generate the signals as in the image below, with a time lag between them? I have to take into account that the frequency must be the same.

void Encoder() {
 tone(51,60);//Generates a 60Hz signal at output 51
 tone(52,60);//Generates a 60Hz signal at output 52
}

enter image description here

update:

I was able to generate the desired signal by doing the following:

void Encoder() {
 int i;
 for (i == 0; i <= 10000; i++) {
 digitalWrite(50, HIGH);
 delay(10);
 digitalWrite(48, HIGH);
 delay(10);
 digitalWrite(50, LOW);
 delay(10);
 digitalWrite(48, LOW);
 delay(10);
 digitalWrite(50, HIGH);
 delay(10);
 digitalWrite(48, HIGH);
 delay(10);
 digitalWrite(50, LOW);
 delay(10);
 digitalWrite(48, LOW);
 delay(10);
 }
 }

• Eugene Sh.: First of all you should give up on using the unrelated library functions such as tone. 60Hz is a low frequency, so you can just "manually" generate it in the main loop.
• jsotola: what kind of a rotary encoder?
• Eduardo Cardoso: rotary encoder incremental

Answer 1

If you don't care too much about the exact frequency and timing you can use the below method- delays are 1/4 of 1/60 second or 4167us ideally, but the writes and the loop use some time so the frequency will be a bit lower than 60Hz.

If you need very accurate timing or you need the micro to be available for other tasks you can access the on-chip timers directly, but that's a bit more effort.

// play with the below number a bit to change the timing
#define DLY 4167
void setup() {
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(13, LOW);
digitalWrite(12, LOW);
}
void loop() {
 delayMicroseconds(DLY); 
 digitalWrite(12, HIGH);
 delayMicroseconds(DLY); 
 digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
 delayMicroseconds(DLY); 
 digitalWrite(12, LOW);
 delayMicroseconds(DLY); 
 digitalWrite(13, LOW);
 }

(ignore the voltage display, they are both 0/5V)

enter image description here

Answer 2

As Eugene Sh pointed out, the simplest solution, if you don't have anything else to do in the loop is to repeatedly turn your pins high/low, and adjust the delay between those events.

If you can't afford to dedicate a whole board to this task (having a few of extra Nano is cheap and useful), then you should run timers interrupts to do the switching at a precise time, and leave the rest of the time clear for your other stuff.

The official doc that explains this idea is here: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/SecretsOfArduinoPWM

You might find the examples from this other page more enlightening: http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Timer-Interrupts/