This convergence of functions across smartphones, PNDs, mobile gaming platforms, and other consumer wearables represents a huge advantage for consumers, offering them a wealth of feature-rich products to choose from. However, this trend also creates enormous challenges for wearable designers, who now have to incorporate all these disparate functions into a single device with very limited space while simultaneously differentiating their products from the competition. In many cases, this is achieved by including superior audio, improving the user interface experience, reducing the form factor, and extending battery life. Now, thanks to a new class of highly integrated, system-wide solutions for intelligent power management, designers have a tool that will help them achieve the differentiation they seek while providing a flexible architecture suitable for multiple platforms and product generations.
Faster Time to Market Through Flexibility and Integration:
The need to incorporate a wide range of functions into a single device not only underscores the urgency of a high degree of integration to reduce form factor, but also reveals the need for an intelligent, programmable power management solution that meets the requirements of the application processor and system memory, as well as the requirements of other peripheral components such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Currently, many power management solutions are optimized to work with a specific application processor, making it easy to design a simple system. However, many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) developing a wide variety of products that cater to different geographic and demographic conditions can benefit from a more flexible, integrated solution that is reusable across multiple platforms and with various application processors.
Recent offerings, such as the IDTP95020 intelligent power management solution, achieve this level of flexibility by adopting a unique architecture with an embedded microcontroller (see Figure 1). The embedded microcontroller is used to manage all on-chip resources and supports the system's dynamically programmable power regulation modules, as well as the on-chip power management scheme, which is what gives the solution its flexibility. In addition to its low-loss, low-dropout (LDO) regulators and programmable DC-DC switching converters, the IDTP95020 also features integrated battery charge management, white LED drivers, low-power stereo audio and voice codecs with a mixer function, a Class D amplifier and headphone driver, a phase-locked loop (PLL) for on-chip and off-chip clock generation, and a touchscreen driver (see Figure 1). Each and every functional block is fully programmable and can be controlled by an embedded microcontroller via predefined procedure sequences loaded into internal memory or external EEPROM. This allows the IDTP95020 to operate independently of the application processor, reducing the work required for general maintenance and real-time event monitoring. The IDTP95020's functional blocks can be controlled by the application processor via register inputs through one of two I2C interfaces.
This level of flexibility and programmability not only allows the IDTP95020 to perform the dynamic voltage adjustments required by various application processors, but also empowers designers to quickly modify a simple power management solution to meet the different peripheral requirements of products in their range. The ability to reuse a single solution across multiple products can significantly reduce the design resources needed to carry out these projects, as well as contribute to faster time-to-market. Furthermore, a reusable power management solution also helps streamline purchasing processes and simplify inventory management.
Impact of complex user interfaces on the system
Touchscreens, once a luxury, have rapidly become a standard feature in numerous consumer products. By adopting an intelligent power management solution, such as the IDTP95020 with its integrated touchscreen controller and WLED controller, designers can not only quickly and easily add this functionality without the need for multiple discrete components, but also reduce the application processor's workload and overall system power consumption (see Figure 2). By offloading the tasks of controlling the touchscreen, buttons, and other user inputs from the application processor to an intelligent power management solution, the processor can then utilize its high-performance processing capabilities for other value-added functions or spend more time in sleep or standby mode, thus reducing overall system power consumption. The IDTP95020 also relieves the application processor of the responsibility for controlling the backlight. By integrating the control system for WLED and the touch screen, along with the ability to monitor other analog system measurements via a 12-bit ADC, the IDTP95020 no longer needs the application processor to wake up the screen or regulate its brightness.
Easier Audio Thanks to the Integrated Codec:
Many portable applications, especially those based on discrete application and baseband processors, have multiple audio inputs and outputs that require blending and tuning. Therefore, a centralized audio mixer is needed, and in many architectures, the application processor is used for this purpose. However, the audio mixer is CPU-intensive, which can place a heavy load on processor resources and significantly increase power consumption. An intelligent power management system with a built-in audio codec is a better solution. By offloading audio mixing, the IDTP95020 integrated power management solution reduces the processing load on the application processor, freeing up resources for other functions or reducing system power consumption by establishing a low-power sleep mode for the processor (see Figure 3).
Development Environment:
While a fully programmable, intelligent power management solution offers designers a high degree of integration and flexibility, it also requires the user to define sequences and procedures to react to different interruptions and events. To ensure that creating these sequences and procedures does not delay a project's time to market, it is essential that all solutions integrate a robust development environment. The development tools for the IDTP95020 include an evaluation board, which can be connected directly to the designer's PC. The designer can then use IDT's programming tool, based on a graphical user interface, which features an easy-to-use drag-and-drop function for configuring power rails. The designer can create and execute TCL procedures for the IDTP95020 to perform a predefined sequence of actions and functions. Once the designer has finalized these script files, the tool allows them to be loaded directly into the evaluation board's EEPROM memory (see Figure 4).
Power Management: A Strategic Decision.
Historically, power management has always been one of the last aspects considered in the design of many consumer portable applications. While this approach has served designers well in the past, selecting a power management solution has gained importance due to the increasing complexity of consumer portable devices and the need to include a wide range of functions and maximize battery lifespan. The development of intelligent power management solutions, such as the IDTP95020, now empowers designers to make the strategic decision to adopt a flexible, integrated solution that can be used across multiple platforms and product generations. Such a decision can reduce the design resources needed to develop a variety of products and contribute to faster time to market. Furthermore, it helps optimize system performance and energy consumption.
Author:
Casey Springer. IDT
