Power deregulation: Eliminating off-chip voltage regulation circuitry from embedded systems

Seunghoon Kim*, Robert P. Dick, Russell E Joseph

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

In battery-powered embedded systems, dedicated circuitry is used to convert stored energy into a form that can be directly used by processors. These power regulation devices seek to mask non-ideal aspects of the battery and present an ideal, fixed-voltage power source to the processor. However, this comes at a high price in terms of form factor, component cost, and energy efficiency. We describe and evaluate a new method for eliminating voltage regulation circuitry from battery-powered embedded systems. This method makes use of power gating, frequency scaling, and thread migration in chip-level multiprocessors to dynamically adjust to varying battery voltage. The key advantages of this approach are reduction in printed circuit board area (by 1/3 in many embedded applications) and the elimination of bulky unreliable discrete components such as electrolytic capacitors while maintaining similar battery lifespan. We have evaluated the power consumption, performance, and reliability implications of the proposed method using analytical techniques, power models, and detailed full-system simulation of numerous benchmarks from the ALPBench and MediaBench benchmark suites. For a number of battery technologies, the proposed technique holds the potential to eliminate power regulation circuitry and maintain battery lifespan while maintaining the same performance as systems using Buck-Boost voltage regulators.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCODES+ISSS 2007
Subtitle of host publicationInternational Conference on Hardware/Software Codesign and System Synthesis
Pages105-110
Number of pages6
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2007
EventCODES+ISSS 2007: 5th International Conference on Hardware/Software Codesign and System Synthesis - Salzburg, Austria
Duration: Sep 30 2007Oct 3 2007

Publication series

NameCODES+ISSS 2007: International Conference on Hardware/Software Codesign and System Synthesis

Other

OtherCODES+ISSS 2007: 5th International Conference on Hardware/Software Codesign and System Synthesis
Country/TerritoryAustria
CitySalzburg
Period9/30/0710/3/07

Keywords

  • Battery
  • Chip multiprocessor
  • Multimedia
  • Power regulation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Software

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Power deregulation: Eliminating off-chip voltage regulation circuitry from embedded systems'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this