Low Power MCU Comparision: nanoWatt XLP Vs. MSP430

This is a video of a test done by Microchip comparing their nanoWatt technology to the MSP430. This is a good demonstration of Microchips efforts to catch-up to Taxes Instrument’s low power experience.

Low Power Design Seminars

Freescale has partnered with design house Nuvation and is giving low power training experience. The seminars will help you reduce your power consumption, BOM cost, time–to–market. Design engineers looking for practical techniques for balancing the design challenges of portable product development are especially encouraged to attend. An understanding of embedded system design and “C” programming is beneficial.

Please take a look to check the locations and dates of the seminars:

Low Power Microcontroller Seminars

30 Picowatt Sleep Mode Microchip

The Phoenix Processor developed by researchers at the University of Michigan can run on a watch battery for 263 years. The processor uses 10 times less power than comparable chips when active and 30,000 times less power in sleep mode. The processor is designed for sensor-based devices. Some applications include medical implants, environment monitors, structural integrity of buildings and bridges. The overall design was based around reducing sleep mode power consumption since in most application the sensor is a sleep 99 percent of the time. The processor runs on 0.5 Volts and in sleep mode consumes 30 picowatts. This is a very exciting development, which could open up the door for electronics to be used in applications that are currently purely mechanical due to the inconvenience of replacing batteries.

For more info: Phoenix Processor

TI’s MSP430F5xx family of low power microcontrollers

The new MSP430F5xx family of microcontrollers from Texas Instruments run faster and are more configurable than previous versions of the MSP430. If used correctly the 16-bit RISC microcontrollers can by far be the lowest power solution for an embedded system.

The low power features include:

-25MHz core speed

-160µA/MHz

-A Power Management Module (PMM), varying the voltage from 1.4V to 1.9V in four steps

-A Unified Clock System with fail-safe clock operation

-Up to Eight DMA channels

-32-bit Real Time Clock (RTC) for extended sleep times

-Core off with peripherals running draws a mere 2µA

-A RAM and Status retention mode of 1µA

-Programmable GPIO drive levels

-An improved A/D with higher performance and lower current consumption

-Ability to turn different RAM sectors on or off to conserve power

-Read/erase/write of the Flash is possible at voltages down to 1.8V

-Up to 256KBytes Flash

-Up to 16KBytes RAM

Additional features include a hardware 32×32 multiply, a 4-wire JTAG interface, and integrated pull-up and pull-down resistors on GPIO pins.

Check out the video for more information:

MSP430F5XX Video

 

A NEW LOW POWER PIC!!!!!!

Microchip Technology claims to offer the lowest power 16-bit microcontroller which has a standby current of just 100nA. The PIC24FJ256GB1 family of microcontrollers include an integrated USB 2.0 peripheral and up to 256kbyte flash and 16kbyte RAM on-chip. Capacitive touch user interface designs are supported by an integrated charge time measurement unit and the supplier’s royalty-free mTouch Sensing Solution software development kit. The pricing for the device starts at $3.47 each in 10,000 unit quantities. This is very exciting news for anyone who is working on a battery powered embedded application.

 

PIC24FJ256GB1

Atmel’s high-performance ultra-low power microcontrollers

Atmel® Corporation has introduced the AT91SAM7L series of high-performance, ultra-low power microcontrollers. The microcontroller incorporates a wide verity of innovative techniques giving you the tools to optimize your system for maximum power savings. In active mode, the power consumption is optimized via a programmable operating voltage, operating frequency, peripheral clock activity, and the use of DMA instead of the CPU for data transfers. While in the different standby modes the power consumption can be controlled via power switches, scalable voltage regulators, and the use of sampling techniques on Voltage Monitors, Power On Reset and Brown Out Detector. Three different standby modes are available, the power down mode, the backup mode, and the wait mode. Power down mode only supplies power to the fast wake up pin. In backup mode only the supply controller, the zero-power POR and the 32kHz oscillator remain running while you have the option of setting the RTC, the 2K backup SRAM, the BOD, the charge pump, the LCD voltage regulator and the LCD Controller to on or off. Finally, in wait mode the 2MHz RC oscillator provides a rapid wake-up time for fast external event management. In single supply mode which can go down to 1.8V the current is 0.5mA/MHz while in power down mode the AT91SAM7L typically consumes 100nA. Assortments of peripherals are available with this microcontroller along with a development board. Definitely, this is a great platform to considering when starting a low power embedded project. Check out the Atmel Press Room for more information, and links to the evaluation kit.

Atmel Press Room

Low Power Microcontrollers

While browsing a microcontroller discussion board about the outlook on Low Power micros for 2008, I came across a very innovative company. Energy Micro is a company with a mission dedicated to energy efficiency. The mission is to develop, market and sell the world’s most energy efficient microcontrollers. I believe that this company has the right idea to succeed in the long-term especially because power consumption is becoming a primary design constraint. Take a look at the company webpage for more info, as well there are some opportunities for employment that could be very interesting.

Energy Micro

MSP430 Ultra-Low-Power MCU Webinar

I had the opportunity to attend Texas Instrument’s 430 Day which basically was an information session about the capabilities of TI’s low power family of microcontrollers. It is apparent that TI is very focused on making their MCU as power efficient as possible, and I believe they so far they have been very successful. The MSP430 has some impressive specifications and features that make it ideal for portable applications. If you did not get a chance to be a part of 430 Day, TI now offers the same seminar online for free. It is a great way to get updated on one of the most innovative microcontroller out there.

MSP430 On-Demand Webinar

8-Bit Microcontrollers for Extreme Low Power

This is a somewhat useful paper on low power techniques for microcontrollers. The paper starts off very basic explaining power consumption and a few basic ways to reduce it, like looking at leakage current or playing with the clocks or oscillator. The second part of the paper goes into explaining some of the low power features of the Atmel AVR PicoPower microcontrollers. These microcontrollers are said to consume 100nA in power-down mode, 650nA in power-save mode with a real time counter, and 340µA in active mode. I like some of the techniques that Atmel applied to reduce power consumption, for example disabling brown-out detection circuitry during sleep mode or having a special register that can completely power down peripherals. While I believe that there are more efficient microcontrollers out there, these 8-bit devices might still be the optimal choice for your design, and even if they are not the paper is still worth reading.

Innovative Techniques for Low Power Consumption with 8-Bit Microcontrollers