Uncovering CPU power consumption’s smoke and mirrors

As applications become increasingly mobile, power saving becomes less about conservation of fossil fuels and saving the environment, and more about the consequential battery life. A few milliamps might seem minor, but this presenting itself as an extension of half an hour of operating life before the next charge can be hugely important, especially if it pushes your product’s battery life higher than your competitor’s product.

Unfortunately, for those developing finished products, a numerical nightmare exists in trying to calculate resultant wattage. Not only must they contend with combining a number of ICs’ quoted figures and leaving a reasonable buffer, but once those figures are reviewed closely, it quickly becomes obvious what a mathematical minefield this will be.

Full report published here in Embedded Computing Design – November 2013