Two Designs of Automatic Embedded System Energy Consumption Measuring Platforms Using GPIO

Abstract

Energy consumption is a critical evaluation index of embedded systems, and it has impacts on battery-life, thermal design, as well as device security and reliability. Since energy is the time integral of power, power consumption should be considered, along with the impact of “time”; thus, we propose two designs of automatic energy consumption measuring platforms utilizing General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO). Using these designs, we developed software and introduced auxiliary hardware for solutions with better timing and synchronization. A series of test sets were designed to verify our designs’ capabilities and accuracy levels. Both of our designs showed an accuracy similar to that of traditional measuring methods, which can satisfy the needs of different occasions. In addition, our designs provide real-time energy consumption data, as well as unattended automated measurements.