I2C Slave v1.0

Warning

This I2C slave driver version 1 will be removed when idf v6.0 update. We suggest you use I2C slave version 2 via CONFIG_I2C_ENABLE_SLAVE_DRIVER_VERSION_2.

After installing the I2C slave driver by i2c_new_slave_device(), ESP32-C6 is ready to communicate with other I2C masters as a slave.

Install I2C slave device

I2C slave requires the configuration specified by i2c_slave_config_t:

Once the i2c_slave_config_t structure is populated with mandatory parameters, i2c_new_slave_device() can be called to allocate and initialize an I2C master bus. This function will return an I2C bus handle if it runs correctly. Specifically, when there are no more I2C port available, this function will return ESP_ERR_NOT_FOUND error.

i2c_slave_config_t i2c_slv_config = {
    .addr_bit_len = I2C_ADDR_BIT_LEN_7,
    .clk_source = I2C_CLK_SRC_DEFAULT,
    .i2c_port = TEST_I2C_PORT,
    .send_buf_depth = 256,
    .scl_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SCL_IO,
    .sda_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SDA_IO,
    .slave_addr = 0x58,
};

i2c_slave_dev_handle_t slave_handle;
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_new_slave_device(&i2c_slv_config, &slave_handle));

Uninstall I2C slave device

If a previously installed I2C bus is no longer needed, it's recommended to recycle the resource by calling i2c_del_slave_device(), so that to release the underlying hardware.

I2C Slave Write

The send buffer of the I2C slave is used as a FIFO to store the data to be sent. The data will queue up until the master requests them. You can call i2c_slave_transmit() to transfer data.

Simple example for writing data to FIFO:

uint8_t *data_wr = (uint8_t *) malloc(DATA_LENGTH);

i2c_slave_config_t i2c_slv_config = {
    .addr_bit_len = I2C_ADDR_BIT_LEN_7,   // 7-bit address
    .clk_source = I2C_CLK_SRC_DEFAULT,    // set the clock source
    .i2c_port = TEST_I2C_PORT,            // set I2C port number
    .send_buf_depth = 256,                // set TX buffer length
    .scl_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SCL_IO,       // SCL GPIO number
    .sda_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SDA_IO,       // SDA GPIO number
    .slave_addr = 0x58,                   // slave address
};

i2c_slave_dev_handle_t slave_handle;
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_new_slave_device(&i2c_slv_config, &slave_handle));
for (int i = 0; i < DATA_LENGTH; i++) {
    data_wr[i] = i;
}

ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_slave_transmit(slave_handle, data_wr, DATA_LENGTH, 10000));

I2C Slave Read

Whenever the master writes data to the slave, the slave will automatically store data in the receive buffer. This allows the slave application to call the function i2c_slave_receive() as its own discretion. As i2c_slave_receive() is designed as a non-blocking interface, users need to register callback i2c_slave_register_event_callbacks() to know when the receive has finished.

static IRAM_ATTR bool i2c_slave_rx_done_callback(i2c_slave_dev_handle_t channel, const i2c_slave_rx_done_event_data_t *edata, void *user_data)
{
    BaseType_t high_task_wakeup = pdFALSE;
    QueueHandle_t receive_queue = (QueueHandle_t)user_data;
    xQueueSendFromISR(receive_queue, edata, &high_task_wakeup);
    return high_task_wakeup == pdTRUE;
}

uint8_t *data_rd = (uint8_t *) malloc(DATA_LENGTH);
uint32_t size_rd = 0;

i2c_slave_config_t i2c_slv_config = {
    .addr_bit_len = I2C_ADDR_BIT_LEN_7,
    .clk_source = I2C_CLK_SRC_DEFAULT,
    .i2c_port = TEST_I2C_PORT,
    .send_buf_depth = 256,
    .scl_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SCL_IO,
    .sda_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SDA_IO,
    .slave_addr = 0x58,
};

i2c_slave_dev_handle_t slave_handle;
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_new_slave_device(&i2c_slv_config, &slave_handle));

s_receive_queue = xQueueCreate(1, sizeof(i2c_slave_rx_done_event_data_t));
i2c_slave_event_callbacks_t cbs = {
    .on_recv_done = i2c_slave_rx_done_callback,
};
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_slave_register_event_callbacks(slave_handle, &cbs, s_receive_queue));

i2c_slave_rx_done_event_data_t rx_data;
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_slave_receive(slave_handle, data_rd, DATA_LENGTH));
xQueueReceive(s_receive_queue, &rx_data, pdMS_TO_TICKS(10000));
// Receive done.

Put Data In I2C Slave RAM

I2C slave FIFO mentioned above can be used as RAM, which means user can access the RAM directly via address fields. For example, write data to the third RAM block with following graph. Before using this, please note that i2c_slave_config_t::access_ram_en needs to be set to true.

Put data in I2C slave RAM

Put data in I2C slave RAM

uint8_t data_rd[DATA_LENGTH_RAM] = {0};

i2c_slave_config_t i2c_slv_config = {
    .addr_bit_len = I2C_ADDR_BIT_LEN_7,
    .clk_source = I2C_CLK_SRC_DEFAULT,
    .i2c_port = TEST_I2C_PORT,
    .send_buf_depth = 256,
    .scl_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SCL_IO,
    .sda_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SDA_IO,
    .slave_addr = 0x58,
    .flags.access_ram_en = true,
};

// Master writes to slave.

i2c_slave_dev_handle_t slave_handle;
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_new_slave_device(&i2c_slv_config, &slave_handle));
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_slave_read_ram(slave_handle, 0x5, data_rd, DATA_LENGTH_RAM));
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_del_slave_device(slave_handle));

Get Data From I2C Slave RAM

Data can be stored in the RAM with a specific offset by the slave controller, and the master can read this data directly via the RAM address. For example, if the data is stored in the third RAM block, master can read this data by the following graph. Before using this, please note that i2c_slave_config_t::access_ram_en needs to be set to true.

Get data from I2C slave RAM

Get data from I2C slave RAM

uint8_t data_wr[DATA_LENGTH_RAM] = {0};

i2c_slave_config_t i2c_slv_config = {
    .addr_bit_len = I2C_ADDR_BIT_LEN_7,
    .clk_source = I2C_CLK_SRC_DEFAULT,
    .i2c_port = TEST_I2C_PORT,
    .send_buf_depth = 256,
    .scl_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SCL_IO,
    .sda_io_num = I2C_SLAVE_SDA_IO,
    .slave_addr = 0x58,
    .flags.access_ram_en = true,
};

i2c_slave_dev_handle_t slave_handle;
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_new_slave_device(&i2c_slv_config, &slave_handle));
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_slave_write_ram(slave_handle, 0x2, data_wr, DATA_LENGTH_RAM));
ESP_ERROR_CHECK(i2c_del_slave_device(slave_handle));

I2C slave callbacks

When an I2C slave bus triggers an interrupt, a specific event will be generated and notify the CPU. If you have some function that needs to be called when those events occurred, you can hook your function to the ISR (Interrupt Service Routine) by calling i2c_slave_register_event_callbacks(). Since the registered callback functions are called in the interrupt context, users should ensure the callback function doesn't attempt to block (e.g. by making sure that only FreeRTOS APIs with ISR suffix are called from the function). The callback function has a boolean return value, to tell the caller whether a high priority task is woken up by it.

I2C slave event callbacks are listed in the i2c_slave_event_callbacks_t.

Was this page helpful?