Low-power applications represent a significant portion
of the future market for embedded systems. Every
year, more designers are required to make designs
portable, wireless and energy efficient. This document
seeks to simplify the transition to low-power applica-
tions by providing a single location for the foundations
of low-power design for embedded systems. The
examples discussed in this document will focus on
power consumption from the viewpoint of the microcon-
troller (MCU). As the brain of the application, the MCU
typically consumes the most power and has the most
control over the system power consumption.
As with all designs, it is important for the designer of a
low-power embedded system to consider trade-offs
between power consumption, and other factors, such as
cost, size and complexity. While some low-power tech-
niques can be used with no cost to the system, others
may require trade-offs. This guide will give examples of
these trade-offs where applicable. However, it is not
feasible to discuss all possible trade-offs, so an embed-
ded designer should keep in mind the possible system
level impacts of power-saving techniques.
This design guide will refer to Low-Power modes
available on PIC
®
MCUs, but will not go into detail
about these features. For information about the
Low-Power modes available on PIC MCU devices,
refer to AN1267, “nanoWatt and nanoWatt XLP™
Technologies: An Introduction to Microchip’s
Low-Power Devices” (DS01267). AN1416
Low-Power Design Guide
Authors: Brant Ivey Main Sources of Power Consumption
Microchip Technology Inc. In CMOS devices, such as microcontrollers, the total
power consumption can be broken down into two broad
INTRODUCTION categories: dynamic power and static power. Dynamic
power is the power consumed when the microcontroller
Low-power applications represent a significant portion is running and performing its programmed ……
