Measurement of current and power consumption in the order of milli-watt resolution in processor core level

Abstract

The increasing popularity of low power applications has resulted in the need for implementing power consumption reduction techniques. Measurement of power consumption has gained importance due to the fact that the measurement of total power consumed may result in exploring newer mechanisms for reducing the power consumption of the system. Devising appropriate po w e r consumption reduction techniques for an application becomes possible only with a correct knowledge of the amount of power consumed by different modules of the system. This work presents the design and development of a prototype module for power consumption measurement which could be used on core level of a system. The main objective the work includes power measurement of the processor core while executing different application tasks and impact of supply voltage and operating frequency on power consumption measurement.