POWER SAVING USING Why and How?
MICROCONTROLLERS
INTRODUCTION
¡ W hy is reducing power consumption
important?
¡ H ardware vs. Software methods
¡ T he need to balance power
consumption with performance
needs
¡ E xamples
POWER FLOW IN AND OUT
Vss
Vcc
Output pin
MCU
Input pin
Dissipated as heat
ENERGY CONSERVATION
Vcc Vss(ground)
Dissipated as heat
Input pin Output pin
Power Saving ?
Less current from Reduce the current to
Vcc and Input pin ground, heat and Output
pin
SAVE POWER FROM GROUND AND
OUTPUT
Leakage current Output capacitance
Hardware designer User
Leakage current Frequency
Vdd
Output capacitance
CMOS inverter
SAVE POWER FROM HEAT DISSIPATION
Superconductor
In a conductor, heat was caused by
electron collisions during drifting
T800 Terminator
HOW TO SAVE POWER
¡ Power Down Modes
¡ C locking Systems
¡ I nterrupts
¡ Peripherals
POWER-DOWN MODES
¡ Most important
feature to meet
current-budget
¡ Control clock
frequency
¡ Control CPU power
CLOCKING SYSTEMS
¡ Microcontrollers may enter and
exit low -power modes several
times per second
¡ Current is wasted while CPU
waits for stable clock
¡ Most low -power MCUs have
“instant on clocks”
INSTANT-ON CLOCKS
¡ Some ready for CPU in less
than 10-20us
¡ Some have two stage clock
wake up
¡ Provides a low freq. clock
while high freq. clock
stabilizes
§ Can take 1ms longer
¡ On these devices, CPU may
Stable be operational in 15us
§ But runs on incorrect frequency
¡ CPU consumes less current at
low frequencies
¡ Inaccurate frequency can
relate to inaccurate timing
§ If accurate timing is necessary,
the CPU must wait for the clock
to stabilize.
INTERRUPTS
¡ Goes hand in hand with
system clock flexibility
¡ Bring MCU out of low -power
mode
§ More interrupts, more current-
saving flexibility
¡ Without interrupt capability,
MCU must poll the keypad or
buttons often
§ Controlling polling requires a
timer
§ Additional current
¡ With interrupt, CPU can sleep
until a button is pushed
WHAT ARE MCU PERIPHERALS?
¡ Peripherals are
components on a chip
which have
programmable input/
output capability
¡ Examples:
§ Timers
§ Event Counters
§ PWM generators
§ ADC/DAC
LOW POWER PERIPHERALS
¡ Some MCUs don’t have
low power peripherals
¡ Two types of low power
peripheral ability
§ Individual enable/disable
§ Automatic enable/disable
¡ A true low -power
peripheral is one that
consumes no current
when not in use
SPECIAL DETAILS OF POWER SAVING ON
MCUS
¡ In today’s batter y driven world, power saving is a must for many
consumer based applications
¡ Most modern day microprocessors/controllers have a variety of
onboard power-saving features
§ Compare TI vs. Microchip
¡ TI
§ MSP430 Line of “Ultra Low Power MCU’s”
¡ Microchip
§ PIC nanoWatt eXtreme Low Power MCU’s
VS
MSP430 – LOW POWER MODES (LPMs)
¡ Active
¡ LPM0 – CPU, Master Clock
are disabled
¡ LPM1 – Same as LPM0,
with the DCO and DC
generator disabled if they
aren’t used for the Sub-
System Master Clock
¡ LPM2 – Only DC Generator
and the Auxiliary Clock are
active
¡ LPM3 – Only Auxiliary
Clock is active
¡ LPM4 – All clocks
disabled; CPU disabled.
MSP430 – OPERATING MODES
FLOWCHART
MSP430 – OPERATING MODES
PIC nanoWatt– OPERATING MODES
PIC VS. MSP430
APPLICATION NOTE EXAMPLES
¡ Both TI, and Microchip tested their processors against each
other
¡ TI found that the MSP430 line was most efficient, while
Microchip found their nanoWatt line to be the most efficient
§ Application should be deciding factor
MSP430
¡ Stable,
high
speed
clock
¡ Interrupts
vs. polling
¡ Design for
low
MSP430
¡ 16-bit Architecture is actually more efficient
¡ @ 1 MHz, MSP430 needs only 6us vs. 24us for the 8-bit
competition
¡ Less code à less power
LTC2382-16
¡ Low Noise, Low
Power ADC:
6.5mW at
500ksps
¡ Internal Timer
¡ Low Power ADC
Drivers
¡ Power down
when not
converting
QUESTIONS
