Power analysis of embedded operating systems

The increasing complexity and software content of embedded systems has led to the common use of sophisticated system software that helps applications use the underlying hardware resources easily and efficiently. In this paper, we analyze the power consumption of real-time operating systems (RTOSs), which form the most important component of the system software layer. Despite the widespread use of, and significant role played by, RTOSs in mobile and low-power embedded systems, very little is known about their power consumption characteristics. This work presents power profiles for a commercial RTOS, (??? -OS), running several applications on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor based embedded system. Our work demonstrates that the RTOS can itself consume a significant fraction of the system power, and in addition, impact the power consumed in the other software components. Our analysis presents new insights into the power effects of the RTOS, and several examples of how the application softwa...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2000
• Where: DAC
• Authors: Robert P. Dick, Ganesh Lakshminarayana, Anand Raghunathan, Niraj K. Jha
• Keywords: DAC 2000, Design Automation, Power Consumption Characteristics, RTOS Power Modeling, Work Presents Power