Accurate Software-Related Average Current Drain Measurements in Embedded Systems

Author

Macii, David ; Petri, Dario

Author_Institution

Dipt. di Informatica e Telecomunicazioni, Trento Univ.

Volume

56

Issue

3

fYear

2007

fDate

6/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

723

Lastpage

730

Abstract

Performing accurate average current drain measurements of digital programmable components (e.g., microcontrollers, digital signal processors, System-on-Chip, or wireless modules) is a critical and error-prone measurement problem for embedded system manufacturers due to the impulsive time-varying behavior of the current waveforms drawn from a battery in real operating conditions. In this paper, the uncertainty contributions affecting the average current measurements when using a simple and inexpensive digital multimeter are analyzed in depth. Also, a criterion to keep the standard measurement uncertainty below a given threshold is provided. The theoretical analysis is validated by means of meaningful experimental results

Keywords

digital multimeters; electric current measurement; embedded systems; measurement uncertainty; current waveforms; digital multimeter; digital programmable components; embedded systems; error-prone measurement problem; measurement uncertainty; software-related average current drain measurements; time-varying behavior; uncertainty estimation; Battery charge measurement; Current measurement; Digital signal processors; Embedded system; Manufacturing processes; Measurement standards; Microcontrollers; Performance evaluation; System-on-a-chip; Time varying systems; Current measurements; embedded systems; low power; uncertainty estimation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TIM.2007.894919

Filename

4201005