The ULP LP-Core (Low-power core) coprocessor is a variant of the ULP present in {IDF_TARGET_NAME}. It features ultra-low power consumption while also being able to stay powered on while the main CPU stays in low-power modes. This enables the LP-Core coprocessor to handle tasks like GPIO or sensor readings while the main CPU is in sleep mode, resulting in significant overall power savings for the entire system.
The ULP LP-Core coprocessor has the following features:
The ULP LP-Core code is compiled together with your ESP-IDF project as a separate binary and automatically embedded into the main project binary. There are two ways to achieve this:
1. Place the ULP LP-Core code, written in C or assembly (with the ``.S`` extension), in a dedicated directory within the component directory, such as ``ulp/``.
The first argument to ``ulp_embed_binary`` specifies the ULP binary name. The name specified here is also used by other generated artifacts such as the ELF file, map file, header file, and linker export file. The second argument specifies the ULP source files. Finally, the third argument specifies the list of component source files which include the header file to be generated. This list is needed to build the dependencies correctly and ensure that the generated header file is created before any of these files are compiled. See the section below for the concept of generated header files for ULP applications.
It is also possible to create a custom CMake project for the LP-Core. This gives more control over the build process and allows you to set compile options, link external libraries and all other things that are possible with a regular CMake project.
To do this add the ULP project as an external project in your component CMakeLists.txt file:
Create a folder which contains your ULP project files and a CMakeLists.txt file, located at the path given to ``ulp_add_project``. The CMakeLists.txt file should look like this:
..code-block:: cmake
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
# Project/target name is passed from the main project to allow IDF to have a dependency on this target
# as well as embed the binary into the main app
project(${ULP_APP_NAME})
add_executable(${ULP_APP_NAME} main.c)
# Import the ULP project helper functions
include(IDFULPProject)
# Apply default compile options
ulp_apply_default_options(${ULP_APP_NAME})
# Apply default sources provided by the IDF ULP component
ulp_apply_default_sources(${ULP_APP_NAME})
# Add targets for building the binary, as well as the linkerscript which exports ULP shared variables to the main app
ulp_add_build_binary_targets(${ULP_APP_NAME})
# Everything below this line is optional and can be used to customize the build process
1. Enable both :ref:`CONFIG_ULP_COPROC_ENABLED` and :ref:`CONFIG_ULP_COPROC_TYPE` in menuconfig, and set :ref:`CONFIG_ULP_COPROC_TYPE` to ``CONFIG_ULP_COPROC_TYPE_LP_CORE``. The :ref:`CONFIG_ULP_COPROC_RESERVE_MEM` option reserves RTC memory for the ULP, and must be set to a value big enough to store both the ULP LP-Core code and data. If the application components contain multiple ULP programs, then the size of the RTC memory must be sufficient to hold the largest one.
1.**Run each source file through the C compiler and assembler.** This step generates the object files ``.obj.c`` or ``.obj.S`` in the component build directory depending on the source file processed.
3.**Link the object files into an output ELF file** (``ulp_app_name.elf``). The Map file ``ulp_app_name.map`` generated at this stage may be useful for debugging purposes.
6.**Create an LD export script and a header file**``ulp_app_name.ld`` and ``ulp_app_name.h`` containing the symbols from ``ulp_app_name.sym``. This is done using the ``esp32ulp_mapgen.py`` utility.
For example, the ULP LP-Core program may define a variable ``measurement_count`` which defines the number of GPIO measurements the program needs to make before waking up the chip from Deep-sleep.
The main program can access the global ULP LP-Core program variables as the build system makes this possible by generating the ``${ULP_APP_NAME}.h`` and ``${ULP_APP_NAME}.ld`` files which define the global symbols present in the ULP LP-Core program. Each global symbol defined in the ULP LP-Core program is included in these files and are prefixed with ``ulp_``.
The header file contains the declaration of the symbol:
..code-block:: c
extern uint32_t ulp_measurement_count;
Note that all symbols (variables, arrays, functions) are declared as ``uint32_t``. For functions and arrays, take the address of the symbol and cast it to the appropriate type.
To access the ULP LP-Core program variables from the main program, the generated header file should be included using an ``include`` statement. This allows the ULP LP-Core program variables to be accessed as regular variables.
Variables declared in the global scope of the LP-Core program reside in either the ``.bss`` or ``.data`` section of the binary. These sections are initialized when the LP-Core binary is loaded and executed. Accessing these variables from the main program on the HP-Core before the first LP-Core run may result in undefined behavior.
To run a ULP LP-Core program, the main application needs to load the ULP program into RTC memory using the :cpp:func:`ulp_lp_core_load_binary` function, and then start it using the :cpp:func:`ulp_lp_core_run` function.
Each ULP LP-Core program is embedded into the ESP-IDF application as a binary blob. The application can reference this blob and load it in the following way (supposed ULP_APP_NAME was defined to ``ulp_app_name``):
How the ULP LP-Core coprocessor is started depends on the wake-up source selected in :cpp:type:`ulp_lp_core_cfg_t`. The most common use-case is for the ULP to periodically wake up, do some measurements before either waking up the main CPU or going back to sleep again.
:CONFIG_ESP_ROM_HAS_LP_ROM:#. Unless :cpp:member:`ulp_lp_core_cfg_t::skip_lp_rom_boot` is specified, run ROM start-up code and jump to the entry point in LP RAM. ROM start-up code will initialize LP UART as well as print boot messages.
To enhance the capabilities of the ULP LP-Core coprocessor, it has access to peripherals that operate in the low-power domain. The ULP LP-Core coprocessor can interact with these peripherals when the main CPU is in sleep mode, and can wake up the main CPU once a wake-up condition is reached. The following peripherals are supported:
The ULP LP-Core ROM is a small pre-built piece of code located in LP-ROM, which can't be modified. Similar to the bootloader ROM code ran by the main CPU, this code is executed when the ULP LP-Core coprocessor is started. The ROM code initializes the ULP LP-Core coprocessor and then jumps to the user program. The ROM code also prints boot messages if the LP UART has been initialized.
The ROM code is not executed if :cpp:member:`ulp_lp_core_cfg_t::skip_lp_rom_boot` is set to true. This is useful when you need the ULP to wake-up as quickly as possible and the extra overhead of initializing and printing is unwanted.
Since these functions are already present in LP-ROM no matter what, using these in your program allows you to reduce the RAM footprint of your ULP application.
The LP-Core coprocessor can be configured to handle interrupts from various sources. Examples of such interrupts could be LP IO low/high or LP timer interrupts. To register a handler for an interrupt, simply override any of the weak handlers provided by IDF. A complete list of handlers can be found in :component_file:`ulp_lp_core_interrupts.h <ulp/lp_core/lp_core/include/ulp_lp_core_interrupts.h>`. For details on which interrupts are available on a specific target, please consult **{IDF_TARGET_NAME} Technical Reference Manual** [`PDF <{IDF_TARGET_TRM_EN_URL}#ulp>`__].
// Handle the interrupt and clear the interrupt source
}
:c:macro:`LP_CORE_ISR_ATTR` is a macro that is used to define the interrupt handler function. This macro ensures that registers are saved and restored correctly when the interrupt handler is called.
In addition to configuring the interrupt related registers for the interrupt source you want to handle, you also need to enable the interrupts globally in the LP-Core interrupt controller. This can be done using the :cpp:func:`ulp_lp_core_intr_enable` function.
When programming the LP-Core, it can sometimes be challenging to figure out why the program is not behaving as expected. Here are some strategies to help you debug your LP-Core program:
* Use the LP-UART to print: the LP-Core has access to the LP-UART peripheral, which can be used for printing information independently of the main CPU sleep state. See :example:`system/ulp/lp_core/lp_uart/lp_uart_print` for an example of how to use this driver.
* Routing :cpp:func:`lp_core_printf` to the HP-Core console UART with :ref:`CONFIG_ULP_HP_UART_CONSOLE_PRINT`. This allows you to easily print LP-Core information to the already connected HP-Core console UART. The drawback of this approach is that it requires the main CPU to be awake and since there is no synchronization between the LP and HP cores, the output may be interleaved.
* Share program state through shared variables: as described in :ref:`ulp-lp-core-access-variables`, both the main CPU and the ULP core can easily access global variables in RTC memory. Writing state information to such a variable from the ULP and reading it from the main CPU can help you discern what is happening on the ULP core. The downside of this approach is that it requires the main CPU to be awake, which will not always be the case. Keeping the main CPU awake might even, in some cases, mask problems, as some issues may only occur when certain power domains are powered down.
* Panic handler: the LP-Core has a panic handler that can dump the state of the LP-Core registers by the LP-UART when an exception is detected. To enable the panic handler, set the :ref:`CONFIG_ULP_PANIC_OUTPUT_ENABLE` option to ``y``. This option can be kept disabled to reduce LP-RAM usage by the LP-Core application. To recover a backtrace from the panic dump, it is possible to use esp-idf-monitor_., e.g.:
*:example:`system/ulp/lp_core/lp_i2c` reads external I2C ambient light sensor (BH1750) while the main CPU is in Deep-sleep and wakes up the main CPU once a threshold is met.
*:example:`system/ulp/lp_core/lp_uart/lp_uart_echo` reads data written to a serial console and echoes it back. This example demonstrates the usage of the LP UART driver running on the LP core.
