Low-Power and Energy-Aware Embedded Design

Students will delve into the theoretical and practical aspects of minimizing power consumption in embedded devices. Topics include architectural considerations, software optimizations, and hardware components essential for creating energy-aware designs in modern IoT and portable applications.

Course outline

Lectures, virtual labs, and graded assignments — completed in your browser.

01Foundations of Low-Power Design and Energy Characterizationlecture

02Microcontroller Power States and Architectural Efficiencylecture

03Adaptive Voltage and Frequency Scaling for Energy Optimizationlecture

04Software Power Management and OS Integrationlecture

05Advanced Energy Profiling and Performance Metricslecture

06Power and Clock Gating for Static and Dynamic Power Reductionlecture

07Duty Cycling and Intelligent Sleep Schedulinglecture

08Battery Chemistries and Battery Management System Designlecture

09Principles of Ambient Energy Harvestinglecture

10Energy Harvesting System Integration and PMIC Selectionlecture

11Low-Power Radio Technologies and Network Protocolslecture

12Energy-Efficient Sensing and Data Collectionlecture

13Holistic System-Level Power Optimizationlecture

14Real-World Low-Power Embedded System Applicationsassignment

Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction to Low-Power Embedded Systems and Energy Metrics
Week 2: Microcontroller Power Modes and Architectural Optimizations
Week 3: Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) Techniques
Week 4: Software-Level Power Management and Operating System Support
Week 5: Energy Profiling, Measurement Tools, and Benchmarking
Week 6: Power Gating and Clock Gating Strategies
Week 7: Duty Cycling and Sleep/Wake Scheduling Algorithms
Week 8: Battery Technologies and Management Systems (BMS)
Week 9: Fundamentals of Energy Harvesting (Solar, Thermal, RF, Vibration)
Week 10: Designing with Energy Harvesters and Power Management ICs (PMICs)
Week 11: Low-Power Wireless Communication Protocols (BLE, LoRa, Zigbee)
Week 12: Energy-Efficient Sensor Design and Data Acquisition
Week 13: System-Level Power Optimization and Trade-offs
Week 14: Case Studies in Low-Power Embedded Design and Future Trends