Accurate Software-Related Average Current Drain Measurements in Embedded Systems

Performing accurate average current drain measurements of digital programmable components (e.g., microcontrollers, digital signal processors, System-on-Chip, or wireless modules) is a critical and error-prone measurement problem for embedded system manufacturers due to the impulsive time-varying behavior of the current waveforms drawn from a battery in real operating conditions. In this paper, the uncertainty contributions affecting the average current measurements when using a simple and inexpensive digital multimeter are analyzed in depth. Also, a criterion to keep the standard measurement uncertainty below a given threshold is provided. The theoretical analysis is validated by means of meaningful experimental results