Multicore Processing

The RP2040 chip has 2 cores that can run independently of each other, sharing peripherals and memory with each other. Arduino code will normally execute only on core 0, with the 2nd core sitting idle in a low power state.

By adding a setup1() and loop1() function to your sketch you can make use of the second core. Anything called from within the setup1() or loop1() routines will execute on the second core.

setup() and setup1() will be called at the same time, and the loop() or loop1() will be started as soon as the core’s setup() completes (i.e. not necessarily simultaneously!).

See the Multicore.ino example in the rp2040 example directory for a quick introduction.

Pausing Cores

Sometimes an application needs to pause the other core on chip (i.e. it is writing to flash or needs to stop processing while some other event occurs).

void rp2040.idleOtherCore()

Sends a message to stop the other core (i.e. when called from core 0 it pauses core 1, and vice versa). Waits for the other core to acknowledge before returning.

The other core will have its interrupts disabled and be busy-waiting in an RAM-based routine, so flash and other peripherals can be accessed.

NOTE If you idle core 0 too long, then the USB port can become frozen. This is because core 0 manages the USB and needs to service IRQs in a timely manner (which it can’t do when idled).

void rp2040.resumeOtherCore()

Resumes processing in the other core, where it left off.

void rp2040.restartCore1()

Hard resets Core1 from Core 0 and restarts its operation from setup1().

Communicating Between Cores

The RP2040 provides a hardware FIFO for communicating between cores, but it is used exclusively for the idle/resume calls described above. Instead, please use the following functions to access a software-managed, multicore safe FIFO.

void rp2040.fifo.push(uint32_t)

Pushes a value to the other core. Will block if the FIFO is full.

bool rp2040.fifo.push_nb(uint32_t)

Pushes a value to the other core. If the FIFO is full, returns false immediately and doesn’t block. If the push is successful, returns true.

uint32_t rp2040.fifo.pop()

Reads a value from this core’s FIFO. Blocks until one is available.

bool rp2040.fifo.pop_nb(uint32_t *dest)

Reads a value from this core’s FIFO and places it in dest. Will return true if successful, or false if the pop would block.

int rp2040.fifo.available()

Returns the number of values available in this core’s FIFO.