SDAA069 August   2025 TDA4VL-Q1

 

  1.   1
  2.   Abstract
  3.   Trademarks
  4. 1Introduction
    1. 1.1 Overview of TDA4VL SoC
    2. 1.2 Purpose of the Document
    3. 1.3 Target Audience and Applications
    4. 1.4 Problem Statement
  5. 2Dynamic Frequency Scaling (DFS) in Linux
    1. 2.1 What is DFS?
    2. 2.2 Linux CPUFREQ Framework
    3. 2.3 Supported CPUFREQ Governors
    4. 2.4 DFS Support Status on TI SoCs
  6. 3Linux Thermal Framework
    1. 3.1 Thermal Zones and Trip Points
    2. 3.2 Cooling Mechanisms: Passive vs Active
    3. 3.3 Role of DFS in Passive Cooling
  7. 4Thermal Support on TDA4VL Devices
    1. 4.1 VTM and Bandgap Sensor Initialization
    2. 4.2 Temperature Monitoring via k3_j7xxx_bandgap Driver
  8. 5Enabling CPU Cooling on TDA4VL
    1. 5.1 Patch to Enable CPU Cooling
    2. 5.2 Testing the Cooling Functionality on TDA4VL
  9. 6Scalability Across TDA4 and Sitara Devices
    1. 6.1 Adapting the Implementation
  10. 7Summary
  11. 8References

2.1 What is DFS?

Dynamic Frequency Scaling (DFS) also known as CPU Frequency Scaling, is a power management technique that allows a processor to dynamically adjust the operating frequency based on performance demand or thermal conditions. Lowering the frequency reduces power consumption and heat generation, while improving performance.

On the Texas Instruments TDA4VL SoC, which features multiple Arm® Cortex® - A72 cores, DFS can be used to balance performance and power by scaling CPU frequencies at runtime. This is especially useful in embedded systems that operate under varying workload and thermal constraints.