Energy management for commodity short-bit-width microcontrollers

Dynamic frequency scaling and dynamic voltage scaling have been developed to save power and/or energy for general purpose computing platforms and high-end embedded systems. This paper examines the practicality of using these advanced techniques to save power and energy for commodity 8-bit microcontrollers while leveraging their built-in low-power modes. The benefits of the techniques are weighed against their complexity and cost. First, we mathematically model the power dissipation characteristics of 11 popular 8-bit microcontrollers. We then simulate their power dissipation with different power management techniques being applied. The role of the power scheduler, the power supply, and the frequency divider circuit are also described and analyzed. We find that although dynamic voltage scaling renders the lowest energy dissipation for most microcontrollers, it is not always dramatically better than using a combination of dynamic frequency scaling and the built in power down modes, whic...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: CASES
• Authors: Rony Ghattas, Alexander G. Dean
• Keywords: CASES 2005, Dynamic Frequency Scaling, Dynamic Voltage Scaling, Power Dissipation, System Software