nes-proj/platform/avr-rss2/examples/avr_radio_power

avr_radio_power

Motivation

Spins over different radio seting for the Atmel radio. The motivation is to get understanding and also to get correct data for avrora and Contiki simulations. Program loops over different TX-power setting and measures RX consumption also radio off and idle power use in SLEEP_MODE_PWR_SAVE is measured. Program disables radio duty cycling (RDC) and sets MCU in deep sleep mode to only get radio consumption.

Usage

The different setting is printed on the terminal. You need a way to measure the current consumption and relate to the tests.

Example

Program printout with added measurements. The used board was RSS2 mote with a AtMega256RFR2 CPU. Max is when 0xFF is written to the RPC register.

Run/setup Current use

TX with PWR=0 RPC=0x00 17.80 mA (MAX TX-pwr) TX with PWR=1 RPC=0x00 17.74
TX with PWR=2 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=3 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=4 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=5 RPC=0x00 17.43
TX with PWR=6 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=7 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=8 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=9 RPC=0x00 17.68
TX with PWR=10 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=11 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=12 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=13 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=14 RPC=0x00
TX with PWR=15 RPC=0x00
RX with RPC=0x00 -------------------- 13.43 (RX)

---

TX with PWR=0 RPC=0xff 14.63 mA (MAX TX-pwr)
TX with PWR=1 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=2 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=3 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=4 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=5 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=6 RPC=0xff 14.45
TX with PWR=7 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=8 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=9 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=10 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=11 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=12 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=13 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=14 RPC=0xff
TX with PWR=15 RPC=0xff
RX with RPC=0xFF -------------------- 7.11 (RX)

RX radio off 0.001 mA

Comments

We see TX consumption decreases from 17.80 to 14.63 mA using Max RPC (0xFF). NOTE! For RX 13.43 to 7.11 mA. Nice. This actual measurements. The avr-rss2 port adds support for the AtMegaXXXRFR2 including the new RPC function.

References

Atmel application note. AT02594: Smart Reduced Power Consumption Techniques
[Here] (http://www.atmel.com/images/atmel-42356-smart-reduced-power-consumption-techniques_applicationnote_at02594.pdf)

Multimeter UNI-T UT61E with USB-logging.