Experimental analysis of energy consumption by MobileDDR memory for mobile applications

An experimental measurement of the power consumption of DDR memory for mobile applications is presented, which allows the energy of each bus transition to be measured directly. This result has been possible thanks to the adoption of a refined hardware solution that allows the signal monitoring without affecting its integrity, together with a precise current measurement technique to measure the energy associated with each transition. To analyze the statistical distribution of the DRAM operations, an ad hoc program has been developed which processes the huge quantity of data from the acquisition hardware and outputs them in an aggregated form. The proposed approach is an unprecedented tool to diagnose and optimize the usage of DDR devices in mobile applications, yielding valuable insight into the causes and solutions of the power-consumption challenge.