by Noel O’Riordan and Tommy Mullane, S3 Semiconductors
When you’re designing sensor node devices destined for the industrial internet of things (IIoT), chances are they need to be battery-powered. And given the number of these expected to be deployed, and their often-remote locations, changing or charging a battery frequently isn’t an option. Your device, therefore, needs to be exceptionally energy-efficient, which demands you design everything from the overall system to its individual circuits to minimize energy use.
The challenge is that anyone energy-related design decision is likely to have knock-on effects elsewhere. And then there are less obvious things that can play havoc with battery life. For example, while we know the RF transmitter will generally be a big energy user, it can sometimes be the receiver or power consumption during sleep mode that causes the battery to drain fast. We’ll explore this below.