Power management algorithm included in ESP-IDF can adjust APB frequency, CPU frequency, and put the chip into light sleep mode to run the application
at smallest possible power consumption, given the requirements of application components.
Application components can express their requirements by creating and acquiring power management locks.
For instance, a driver for a peripheral clocked from APB can request the APB frequency to be set to 80 MHz, for the duration while the peripheral is used. Another example is that the RTOS will request the CPU to run at the highest configured frequency while there are tasks ready to run. Yet another example is a peripheral driver which needs interrupts to be enabled. Such driver can request light sleep to be disabled.
Naturally, requesting higher APB or CPU frequency or disabling light sleep causes higher current consumption. Components should try to limit usage of power management locks to the shortest amount of time possible.
Enabling power management features comes at the cost of increased interrupt latency. Extra latency depends on a number of factors, among which are CPU frequency, single/dual core mode, whether frequency switch needs to be performed or not. Minimal extra latency is 0.2us (when CPU frequency is 240MHz, and frequency scaling is not enabled), maximum extra latency is 40us (when frequency scaling is enabled, and a switch from 40MHz to 80MHz is performed on interrupt entry).
Dynamic frequency scaling (DFS) and automatic light sleep can be enabled in the application by calling :cpp:func:`esp_pm_configure` function. Its argument is a structure defining frequency scaling settings, cpp:class:`esp_pm_config_esp32_t`. In this structure, 3 fields need to be initialized:
*``max_freq_mhz`` - Maximal CPU frequency, in MHZ (i.e. frequency used when ``ESP_PM_CPU_FREQ_MAX`` lock is taken). This will usually be set to :envvar:`CONFIG_ESP32_DEFAULT_CPU_FREQ_MHZ`.
*``min_freq_mhz`` — Minimal CPU frequency, in MHz (i.e. frequency used when only ``ESP_PM_APB_FREQ_MAX`` locks are taken). This can be set to XTAL frequency, or XTAL frequency divided by integer. Note that 10MHz is the lowest frequency at which the default REF_TICK clock of 1MHz can be generated.
*``light_sleep_enable`` — Whether system should automatically enter light sleep when no locks are taken (``true``/``false``).
Automatic light sleep is based on FreeRTOS Tickless Idle functionality. :cpp:func:`esp_pm_configure` will return an `ESP_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED` error if :envvar:`CONFIG_FREERTOS_USE_TICKLESS_IDLE` option is not enabled in menuconfig, but automatic light sleep is requested.
In light sleep, peripherals are clock gated, and interrupts (from GPIOs and internal peripherals) will not be generated. Wakeup source described in :doc:`Sleep Modes <sleep_modes>` documentation can be used to wake from light sleep state. For example, EXT0 and EXT1 wakeup source can be used to wake up from a GPIO.
Alternatively, :envvar:`CONFIG_PM_DFS_INIT_AUTO` option can be enabled in menuconfig. If enabled, maximal CPU frequency is determined by :envvar:`CONFIG_ESP32_DEFAULT_CPU_FREQ_MHZ` setting, and minimal CPU frequency is set to the XTAL frequency.
As mentioned in the overview, applications can acquire/release locks to control the power management algorithm. When application takes a lock, power management algorithm operation is restricted in a way described below, for each lock. When the lock is released, such restriction is removed.
Different parts of the application can take the same lock. In this case, the lock must be released the same number of times as it was acquired, in order for power managment algorithm to resume.
- When none of the locks are aquired, and light sleep is enabled in a call to :cpp:func:`esp_pm_configure`, the system will go into light sleep mode. The duration of light sleep will be determined by:
- FreeRTOS tasks blocked with finite timeouts
- Timers registered with :doc:`High resolution timer <esp_timer>` APIs
Light sleep will duration will be chosen to wake up before the nearest event (task being unblocked, or timer elapses).
When DFS is enabled, APB frequency can be changed several times within a single RTOS tick. Some peripherals can work normally even when APB frequency changes; some can not.
The following peripherals can work even when APB frequency is changing:
- UART: if REF_TICK is used as clock source (see `use_ref_tick` member of `uart_config_t`).
- LEDC: if REF_TICK is used as clock source (see :cpp:func:`ledc_timer_config` function).
- RMT: if REF_TICK is used as clock source. Currently the driver does not support REF_TICK, but it can be enabled by clearing ``RMT_REF_ALWAYS_ON_CHx`` bit for the respective channel.
Currently, the following peripheral drivers are aware of DFS and will use ``ESP_PM_APB_FREQ_MAX`` lock for the duration of the transaction:
- SPI master
- SDMMC
The following drivers will hold ``ESP_PM_APB_FREQ_MAX`` lock while the driver is enabled:
- SPI slave — between calls to :cpp:func:`spi_slave_initialize` and cpp:func:`spi_slave_free`.
- Ethernet — between calls to :cpp:func:`esp_eth_enable` and :cpp:func:`esp_eth_disable`.
- WiFi — between calls to :cpp:func:`esp_wifi_start` and :cpp:func:`esp_wifi_stop`. If modem sleep is enabled, lock will be released for thte periods of time when radio is disabled.
- Bluetooth — between calls to :cpp:func:`esp_bt_controller_enable` and :cpp:func:`esp_bt_controller_disable`.
The following peripheral drivers are not aware of DFS yet. Applications need to acquire/release locks when necessary:
