Battery life is important for wearable devices, but optimizing it can be challenging and time-consuming. R&D and design validation engineers need to capture the power consumption of hardware subsystems and analyze how an IoT device performs under a variety of scenarios and weather conditions. They need to identify the necessary design changes to the hardware, software, or firmware required to optimize battery life, and then perform iterations to verify the effects of each design change.
Keysight’s X8712A solution, working in conjunction with the KS833A2A Event-Based Power Analysis Software, enables these engineers to analyze the power consumption of an IoT device and provides precise visibility into how the IoT device is performing at the subsystem level, as well as its current consumption profile. It offers an intuitive visualization tool, through Keysight's PathWave software, as well as a new continuous data logging mode that allows users to capture up to eight days of data to understand device behavior and current consumption profiles over many operating cycles.

“Keysight’s enhanced event-based power analysis software brings three data capture modes to the X8712A IoT Device Battery Life Optimization solution,” said Tan Boon Juan, vice president and general manager of Keysight’s General Purpose Electronic Measurement business. “These modes provide the ability to capture high-fidelity information and analyze rapid events, allowing users to define a specific measurement duration and capture massive amounts of data. By using a combination of these modes, users can expand their understanding of how their IoT device operates to make informed design decisions for managing power efficiency and optimizing their device for optimal battery life.”

Keysight's X8712A software allows users to view the current consumption profile at the subsystem level using single capture, trigger capture, or continuous capture data capture modes to determine the amount of power consumed by the device and quickly detect weak points in the design.

Keysight's KS833A2A software offers the following key benefits:
• The ability to capture the dynamic current consumption of an IoT device as it switches between active, inactive, and sleep modes using patented continuous measurement technology ranging from amperes to nanoamps over several days, generating a comprehensive overview of the load consumption profile.
• Automatic correlation of the load consumption profile with radio frequency or direct current (RF/DC) events from a subsystem, providing days of measurement data and a graphical visualization to simplify post-measurement analysis.
• Automatic calculation of battery life based on the load consumption profile, eliminating manual calculations and accelerating analysis time.
• Easy replication of tests to verify design changes and their impact on battery life.
• Systematic and objective quantification of current consumption improvements allows for comparison of the performance of different software, firmware, or hardware versions.