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micropython-esp32-ulp Documentation

Table of Contents

Overview

README.rst gives a general overview of this project.

Installation

On the ESP32, install using mip (or upip on older MicroPythons):

# step 1: ensure the ESP32 is connected to a network with internet connectivity

# step 2 (for MicroPython 1.20 or newer)
import mip
mip.install('github:micropython/micropython-esp32-ulp')

# step 2 (for MicroPython older than 1.20)
import upip
upip.install('micropython-esp32-ulp')

On a PC, simply git clone this repo.

Getting started

On the ESP32

The simplest example to try on the ESP32 is counter.py. It shows how to assemble code, load and run the resulting binary and exchange data between the ULP and the main CPU.

Run the counter.py example:

  1. Install micropython-esp32-ulp onto the ESP32 as shown above
  2. Upload the examples/counter.py file to the ESP32
  3. Run with import counter

You can also try the blink.py example, which shows how to let the ULP blink an LED.

Look inside each example for a more detailed description.

On a PC

On a PC with the unix port of MicroPython, you can assemble source code as follows:

git clone https://github.com/micropython/micropython-esp32-ulp.git
cd micropython-esp32-ulp
micropython -m esp32_ulp path/to/code.S  # this results in path/to/code.ulp

The assembler supports selecting a CPU to assemble for using the -c option (valid cpu's are esp32 and esp32s2):

micropython -m esp32_ulp -c esp32s2 path/to/code.S  # assemble for an ESP32-S2

More examples

Other ULP examples from around the web:

Advanced usage

In some applications you might want to separate the assembly stage from the loading/running stage, to avoid having to assemble the code on every startup. This can be useful in battery-powered applications where every second of sleep time matters.

Splitting the assembly and load stage can be combined with other techniques, for example to implement a caching mechansim for the ULP binary that automatically updates the binary every time the assembly source code changes.

The esp32_ulp.assemble_file function can be used to assemble and link an assembly source file into a machine code binary file with a .ulp extension. That file can then be loaded directly without assembling the source again.

  1. Create/upload an assembly source file and run the following to get a loadable ULP binary as a .ulp file (specify cpu='esp32s2' if you have an ESP32-S2 or ESP32-S3 device):

    import esp32_ulp
esp32_ulp.assemble_file('code.S', cpu='esp32')  # this results in code.ulp
  2. The above prints out the offsets of all global symbols/labels. For the next step, you will need to note down the offset of the label, which represents the entry point to your code.

  3. Now load and run the resulting binary as follows:

    from esp32 import ULP

ulp = ULP()
with open('test.ulp', 'r') as f:
    # load the binary into RTC memory
    ulp.load_binary(0, f.read())

    # configure how often the ULP should wake up
    ulp.set_wakeup_period(0, 500000)  # 500k usec == 0.5 sec

    # start the ULP
    # assemble_file printed offsets in number of 32-bit words.
    # ulp.run() expects an offset in number of bytes.
    # Thus, multiply the offset to our entry point by 4.
    # e.g. for an offset of 2:
    #   2 words * 4 = 8 bytes
    ulp.run(2*4)  # specify the offset of the entry point label

To update the binary every time the source code changes, you would need a mechanism to detect that the source code changed. This could trigger a re-run of the assemble_file function to update the binary. Manually re-running this function as needed would also work.

Preprocessor

There is a simple preprocessor that understands just enough to allow assembling ULP source files containing convenience macros such as WRITE_RTC_REG. This is especially useful for assembling ULP examples from Espressif or other ULP code found as part of Arduino/ESP-IDF projects.

The preprocessor and how to use it is documented here: Preprocessor support.

Disassembler

There is a disassembler for disassembling ULP binary code. This is mainly used to inspect what instructions our assembler created, however it can be used to analyse any ULP binaries.

The disassembler and how to use it is documented here: Disassembler.

Limitations

Currently the following are not supported:

  • assembler macros using .macro
  • preprocessor macros using #define A(x,y) ...
  • including files using #include

Testing

There are unit tests and also compatibility tests that check whether the binary output is identical with what Espressif's esp32-elf-as (from their binutils-gdb fork) produces.

micropython-esp32-ulp has been tested on the Unix port of MicroPython and on real ESP32 devices with the chip type ESP32D0WDQ6 (revision 1) without SPIRAM as well as ESP32-S2 (ESP32-S2FH4) and ESP32-S3 (ESP32-S3R8) devices.

Consult the Github Actions workflow definition file for how to run the different tests.

Links

Espressif documentation:

GNU Assembler "as" documentation (we try to be compatible for all features that are implemented)