# CPU frequency and idle states

This data source is available on Linux and Android (Since P).
It records changes in the CPU power management scheme through the
Linux kernel ftrace infrastructure.
It involves three aspects:

#### Frequency scaling

There are two way to get CPU frequency data:

1. Enabling the `power/cpu_frequency` ftrace event. (See
   [TraceConfig](#traceconfig) below). This will record an event every time the
   in-kernel cpufreq scaling driver changes the frequency. Note that this is not
   supported on all platforms. In our experience it works reliably on ARM-based
   SoCs but produces no data on most modern Intel-based platforms. This is
   because recent Intel CPUs use an internal DVFS which is directly controlled
   by the CPU, and that doesn't expose frequency change events to the kernel.
   Also note that even on ARM-based platforms, the event is emitted only
   when a CPU frequency changes. In many cases the CPU frequency won't
   change for several seconds, which will show up as an empty block at the start
   of the trace.
   We suggest always combining this with polling (below) to get a reliable
   snapshot of the initial frequency.
2. Polling sysfs by enabling the `linux.sys_stats` data source and setting
   `cpufreq_period_ms` to a value > 0. This will periodically poll
   `/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq` and record the
   current value in the trace buffer. Works on both Intel and ARM-based
   platforms.

On most Android devices the frequency scaling is per-cluster (group of
big/little cores) so it's not unusual to see groups of four CPUs changing
frequency at the same time.

#### Available frequencies

It is possible to record one-off also the full list of frequencies supported by
each CPU by enabling the `linux.system_info` data source. This will
record `/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies` when
the trace recording start. This information is typically used to tell apart
big/little cores by inspecting the
[`cpu_freq` table](/docs/analysis/sql-tables.autogen#cpu_freq).

This is not supported on modern Intel platforms for the same aforementioned
reasons of `power/cpu_frequency`.

#### Idle states

When no threads are eligible to be executed (e.g. they are all in sleep states)
the kernel sets the CPU into an idle state, turning off some of the circuitry
to reduce idle power usage. Most modern CPUs have more than one idle state:
deeper idle states use less power but also require more time to resume from.

Note that idle transitions are relatively fast and cheap, a CPU can enter and
leave idle states hundreds of times in a second.
Idle-ness must not be confused with full device suspend, which is a stronger and
more invasive power saving state (See below). CPUs can be idle even when the
screen is on and the device looks operational.

The details about how many idle states are available and their semantic is
highly CPU/SoC specific. At the trace level, the idle state 0 means not-idle,
values greater than 0 represent increasingly deeper power saving states
(e.g., single core idle -> full package idle).

Note that most Android devices won't enter idle states as long as the USB
cable is plugged in (the USB driver stack holds wakelocks). It is not unusual
to see only one idle state in traces collected through USB.

On most SoCs the frequency has little value when the CPU is idle, as the CPU is
typically clock-gated in idle states. In those cases the frequency in the trace
happens to be the last frequency the CPU was running at before becoming idle.

Known issues:

* The event is emitted only when the frequency changes. This might
  not happen for long periods of times. In short traces
  it's possible that some CPU might not report any event, showing a gap on the
  left-hand side of the trace, or none at all. Perfetto doesn't currently record
  the initial cpu frequency when the trace is started.

* Currently the UI doesn't render the cpufreq track if idle states (see below)
  are not captured. This is a UI-only bug, data is recorded and query-able
  through trace processor even if not displayed.

### UI

In the UI, CPU frequency and idle-ness are shown on the same track. The height
of the track represents the frequency, the coloring represents the idle
state (colored: not-idle, gray: idle). Hovering or clicking a point in the
track will reveal both the frequency and the idle state:
  
![](/docs/images/cpu-frequency.png "CPU frequency and idle states in the UI")

### SQL

At the SQL level, both frequency and idle states are modeled as counters,
Note that the cpuidle value 0xffffffff (4294967295) means _back to not-idle_.

```sql
select ts, t.name, cpu, value from counter as c
left join cpu_counter_track as t on c.track_id = t.id
where t.name = 'cpuidle' or t.name = 'cpufreq'
```

ts | name | cpu | value
---|------|------|------
261187013242350 | cpuidle | 1 | 0
261187013246204 | cpuidle | 1 | 4294967295
261187013317818 | cpuidle | 1 | 0
261187013333027 | cpuidle | 0 | 0
261187013338287 | cpufreq | 0 | 1036800
261187013357922 | cpufreq | 1 | 1036800
261187013410735 | cpuidle | 1 | 4294967295
261187013451152 | cpuidle | 0 | 4294967295
261187013665683 | cpuidle | 1 | 0
261187013845058 | cpufreq | 0 | 1900800

The list of known CPU frequencies, can be queried using the
[`cpu_freq` table](/docs/analysis/sql-tables.autogen#cpu_freq).

### TraceConfig

```protobuf
// Event-driven recording of frequency and idle state changes.
data_sources: {
    config {
        name: "linux.ftrace"
        ftrace_config {
            ftrace_events: "power/cpu_frequency"
            ftrace_events: "power/cpu_idle"
            ftrace_events: "power/suspend_resume"
        }
    }
}

// Polling the current cpu frequency.
data_sources: {
    config {
        name: "linux.sys_stats"
        sys_stats_config {
            cpufreq_period_ms: 500
        }
    }
}

// Reporting the list of available frequency for each CPU.
data_sources {
    config {
        name: "linux.system_info"
    }
}
```

### Full-device suspend

Full device suspend happens when a laptop is put in "sleep" mode (e.g. by
closing the lid) or when a smartphone display is turned off for enough time.

When the device is suspended, most of the hardware units are turned off entering
the highest power-saving state possible (other than full shutdown).

Note that most Android devices don't suspend immediately after dimming the
display but tend to do so if the display is forced off through the power button.
The details are highly device/manufacturer/kernel specific.

Known issues:

* The UI doesn't display clearly the suspended state. When an Android device
  suspends it looks like as if all CPUs are running the kmigration thread and
  one CPU is running the power HAL.