An illumination module and a depth camera on a near-eye-display (NED) device used for depth tracking may be subject to strict power consumption budgets. To reduce power consumption of depth tracking, the illumination power of the illumination module is controllably varied. Such variation entails using a previous frame, or previously recorded data, to inform the illumination power used to generate a current frame. Once the NED determines the next minimum illumination power, the illumination module activates at that power level. The illumination module emits electromagnetic (EM) radiation (e.g. IR light), the EM radiation reflects off surfaces in the scene, and the reflected light is captured by the depth camera. The method repeats for subsequent frames, using contextual information from each of the previous frames to dynamically control the illumination power. Thus, the method reduces the overall power consumption of the depth camera assembly of the NED to a minimum level.