Powering the internet of

things

Yogesh Ramadass
Texas Instruments
 Trends in low-power electronics
Increasing Energy Criticality
Portable Wearable Devices Implantables
Computers

Handhelds
Sensor Networks

Issues - Size, weight, operating lifetime

Energy efficiency of ICs is crucial
2
 IoT Node for Monitoring
Component Power Comments

Inst. Amplifier 1V VDD,

[Verma, 3.5W 1.3Vrms input
VLSI09] referred noise

ADC 1V VDD, 450kS/s,

[Yaul, 3.7W 9.8ENOB
ISSCC14]

16b -cont
0.5V VDD,128kb Power consumption of
[Kwong, 2.72W
ISSCC08]
SRAM, 100kHz building blocks steadily
decreasing
Low voltage operation,
Radio 33.6mW 3V VDD, 2.4GHz,
[CC 2550] (active) -12dBm POUT multi-cores, local
processing of information,
aggressive duty cycling
3
 LSB-first SAR ADC for Low-Activity Signals
ECG = 0.6% Accel = 6.7%
768 1024

Output Code
Output Code

512 512
Range
256 0
0 1000 2000 3000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Sample Number Sample Number
ECG Signal, 1 kS/s Vibration Signal, 5 kS/s

Range is given for best case

(DC) and worst case (fullscale
Nyquist sinusoid) inputs.

[F. Yaul, ISSCC 2014]

LSB-first predictive algorithm for reduced power

 Reduced radio consumption
Epileptic Seizure Onset Detection On-scalp Field Potentials (EEG):

~7.5sec

Electrical Clinical
onset onset

Conventional- Using Local

Wireless EEG Processing

Capture 75 W 75 W
Digital processing -- 2 W
Radio 1733 W 43 W
Total 1808 W 120 W

Computation vs. Communication Trade-off

[N. Verma, VLSI Circuits Symposium 2009]
 Self-Powered Applications
Low data rate, low duty cycle, ultra-low power

Solar Keyboard Electronic Shelf Self-powered

Labels switches
Convenience
Occupancy
Sensor
Environmental Awareness

Implantables Pipelines Oil Rig

Hard to Smoke Structural

Reach Detector sensors
TPMS
6
 Outline

Energy Sources and Characteristics

Energy Harvesting System
Solar
Thermal
Vibration

Energy Storage Options

Energy Management Circuits
Chargers
DC/DC Converters
Battery Management
Peripherals

Summary

7
 Battery Operated System

Battery
Power good
Management
indicator
(UV, OT)

AFE
Radio
Battery Regulator
MicroProc.
Sensor

Battery is an energy source

System needs to be ON only when the load demands it
1cm3 Li-ion 2800J 1year at 100W
Self-powered solutions desirable
8
 Energy Harvesting System
Battery /
Supercap

Battery
Vibration Power good
Management
Harvester / indicator
Rectifier MPPT (OV, UV, OT)
Targeted
RF

AFE
Solar /
Boost Radio
Thermal Regulator
Charger MicroProc.
Harvester
Sensor

Cold
Start

Energy harvesters are power sources

9
 Harvesting Light Energy
RS ICELL

ISC +
CCELL RP
VCELL
_

*US Department of Energy

Incident light generates Conditions Power density

electron-hole pairs Indoor 10W/cm2
Outdoor 10mW/cm2
ISC proportional to light
intensity

10
 Common Solar Cell Types

Crystalline

[EnOcean] [Sanyo] [Sinonar] [IXYS]

Amorphous
[SolarPrint]
[G24i]

Dye-Sensitized
(DSSC)

M. Gratzel, Photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical conversion of solar energy,

Philosophical Trans. Royal Society A, 2007
11
Output power curves with light intensity

Increasing
Intensity

12
 Thermoelectric Energy Harvesters
Lim, Nasa Tech Briefs, 2008

Conditions Power density

Wearable 60W/cm2
Industrial 5mW/cm2

One p-n leg generates ~ 0.2mV/K

Open-circuit voltage proportional to temperature
difference across TEG
13
 TEG Characteristics

[Tellurex]

Tellurex G1-1.0-127-1.27
S = 23mV/K; RT = 5

14
 TEG Characteristics

[Micropelt]

Micropelt MPG-D751
S = 155mV/K; RT = 300
15
 Body Heat Powered Electronics
System Concept Thermo-Electric Devices

IMEC Tellurex Micro-pelt

Thermal Energy Chip

[Y. Ramadass and A. Chandrakasan, ISSCC 2010]

For low-power wearable electronics

 Mechanical Vibration Harvesters

[Mide Volture v22b]

[Perpetuum] [FerroSolutions]

Conditions Power density

Wearable 4W/cm3
Industrial 1mW/cm3
FerroSolutions VEH-460
17
 Vibration-to-Electric Energy

Self-powered Wireless Piezoelectric

Corrosion Monitoring Micro-Power
Sensors Power Converter
Generators

RECTIFIER

ARBITER

BUCK BOOST

Sang-Gook Kim (MIT)

10W -100W generated

Vibrations Power Distributed Sensor Devices

(Battery-less Operation)
e-Textiles with Wireless Power/Data Transfer
Nachiket Desai, ISSCC 2013
Conditions Power density
Near field 5mW/cm2
Far field <10W/cm2
 Energy Storage Options
Battery /
Supercap

Battery
Vibration Power good
Management
Harvester / indicator
Rectifier MPPT (OV, UV, OT)
Targeted
RF

AFE
Solar /
Boost Radio
Thermal Regulator
Charger MicroProc.
Harvester
Sensor

Cold
Start

Store extracted energy from harvesters and

provide to load 20
 Energy Buffer

Accumulate input power

Provide peak output power
Smooth out input, output power imbalances
21
 Energy Storage Options
Conventional
Batteries
Recharge Cycles 100s
Self Discharge Moderate
Charge Time Hours
Impedance Low - High
Physical Size Large
Capacity 0.3-2500mAH

NiCd, NiMH, Li chemistries

AA, AAA batteries have high
capacity, low internal impedance,
higher self discharge
Li coin cells have low capacity,
high internal impedance, smaller
form factor
22
 Energy Storage Options
Conventional Thin Film
Batteries Batteries
Recharge Cycles 100s 5k-10k
Self Discharge Moderate Negligible
Charge Time Hours Minutes
Impedance Low - High High
Physical Size Large Small
Capacity 0.3-2500mAH 12-2200AH

Solid-state LiPON electrolyte

Higher output currents
compared to coin cells
Extremely low self-discharge
Variety of form factors,
intrinsically safe, high temp. 23
 Energy Storage Options
Conventional Thin Film
Supercaps
Batteries Batteries
Recharge Cycles 100s 5k-10k Millions
Self Discharge Moderate Negligible High
Charge Time Hours Minutes Sec-Minutes
Impedance Low - High High Low
Physical Size Large Small Medium
Capacity 0.3-2500mAH 12-2200AH 10-100AH
[AVX]

Supports high peak output

currents
Very high leakage currents
Wide range of operating
temperature
24
Duty Cycle Impact on Current

Active current
Pulse Width = 50ms
dominant
Sleep current
dominant Pulse Width
D
Activity Interval

I (avg) Iactive * D Isleep * (1 D)

25
 Energy Processor
Battery /
Supercap

Battery
Vibration Power good
Management
Harvester / indicator
Rectifier MPPT (OV, UV, OT)
Targeted
RF

AFE
Solar /
Boost Radio
Thermal Regulator
Charger MicroProc.
Harvester
Sensor

Cold
Start

Take input energy from harvester and charge the

storage element efficiently 26
 Energy Mgmt. IC -BQ25570
http://www.ti.com/product/bq25570
Harvester
Storage
High efficiency
CSTOR
+
(2.0 5.5V)
boost charger +
BAT

with MPPT VOC_SAMP VSTOR VBAT

L1
22H LBOOST

L2
VREF_SAMP
LBUCK 10.0H
Boost
+ 4.7F 10nF
Solar Controller
OUT System
Cell
COUT Load
- VSS 22F
Buck
Controller
100mV to 4V VIN MPPT

VIN_DC VSS
with cold-start VSTOR VBAT
Cold Start

Nano-Power
circuit Management

GPIO1 /EN
Prog. between

VOUT_SET
OK_PROG
VBAT_OV
Host GPIO2 VOUT_EN

OK_HYS
VRDIV

GPIO2 VBAT_OK
bq25570
1.3V and 5V

RVO1 ROK1 RVO1

RVO2 ROK2 RVO2

Quiescent ROK3 Custom programmability for

battery OV, battery OK, and
Current = 480nA buck output regulation.
BQ25570 Charger Architecture
HS_ON STOP_HS
DELAY VIN_DC
LS_ON STOP_LS
DELAY
CS1 CS2 CS2
LBST
VIN_DC

VREF COMP1 HS_ON

VSTOR
DIGITAL DRIVERS HS_ON
LOGIC LS_ON CS1 CSTOR
VIN_DC
VSTOR

OCV OV
COMP2
OV_REF
DETECT

OCV_EN CHARGER_EN

Synchronous boost converter with input regulation

80mV 4V input voltage
10A 100mA input current 28
 BQ25570 Charger Efficiency
Single cell solar operation in indoor light (200 lux)
Harvesting from thermoelectric generators
Eff Vs Iin Eff Vs Vin

35% efficiency with 10A 38% efficiency with 100mV

input at 0.5V input at 10mA
> 80% above 100A. >80% above 0.5V
29
Revisiting solar MPP curves

MPP

0.73(OCV)

Output power levels within 0.5%

30
 BQ25570 Maximum Power Point Tracking

EN 256ms

VIN_DC 16s
Charger

R1 EN
ENZ Solar TEG
R2 MPPT
This work ~75% 50%
fraction
CREF

Open circuit voltage based MPPT

Charger periodically turned off using EN signal
IC samples and holds fraction of OCV on external capacitor
Charger regulates input to value held on capacitor
31
Maximum Power Point Tracking
Input Open Circuit
Voltage (OCV) 2V

1V Charger 1V
regulates
Periodic VIN to 80%
sampling of of OCV 1.6V
OCV

0.8V 0.8V

Input Voltage
16s 16s
(VIN)

32
 330mV Cold Start
Function : Start system with depleted storage
Architecture : Input powered boost converter

Enable
Switch

K. Kadirvel, ISSCC, 2012 33

 Regulator
Battery /
Supercap

Battery
Vibration Power good
Management
Harvester / indicator
Rectifier MPPT (OV, UV, OT)
Targeted
RF

AFE
Solar /
Boost Radio
Thermal Regulator
Charger MicroProc.
Harvester
Sensor

Cold
Start

Present stored energy as a regulated supply to

load circuits 34
 DC-DC Converter Topologies

Linear (LDO)
Regulators

Fully integrated
High efficiency X
Voltage Scalability
VIN
VREF Linear loss in efficiency
AMP
Compact and easy to control
VOUT
VOUT
COUT
VIN
M. Al-Shyoukh et al., A Transient Enhanced Low-Quiescent Current Low-Dropout Regulator
with Buffer Impedance Attenuation IEEE JSSC, Aug 2007
35
 DC-DC Converter Topologies

Linear (LDO) Switched

Regulators Capacitor
Converters
Fully integrated
High efficiency X
Voltage Scalability X

VIN 1 2
VOUT
Maintaining efficiency across
C load voltages is difficult
2 1 Output current capability is
limited

1) Y. Ramadass et al., A 0.16mm2 Completely On-Chip Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converter

Using Digital Capacitance Modulation for LDO Replacement in 45nm CMOS , IEEE ISSSC, 2010
2) Michael Seeman et al., A Comparative Analysis of Switched-Capacitor and Inductor-Based DC-
DC Conversion Technologies, Control and Modeling for Power Electronics, 2010
36
 Subthreshold MSP430 Microcontroller
1.2V
0
Programmable

E/cyc of ALU (pJ)

10 ETOT
switched-capacitor
DC-DC
-1
10 EACT=CVDD2
0.6V 0.3V -2
10
Sub-Vt 16b Sub-Vt -3
10 ELEAK = ILEAKVDDdt
-controller 8T SRAM
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Core logic DC-DC VDD (V)
(2 power domains) converter 0.8

0.75

0.7
Efficiency
1.86mm

0.65
128Kb SRAM
array 0.6

0.55

0.5
1 10 100 500
2.29mm Load Power (W)

Joyce Kwong et. al, ISSCC 2008

 DC-DC Converter Topologies

Linear (LDO) Switched Inductor-based

Regulators Capacitor Switching
Converters Converters
Fully integrated X
High efficiency X
Voltage Scalability X

VIN

Needs an external inductor

VREF DIGITAL L
VOUT
Can achieve very high
CONTROL
COUT efficiency
Wide range of output
voltages

38
 TPS62736 Buck Converter Architecture

http://www.ti.com/product/tps62736

Input voltage: 2V 5.5V

Output programmable between 1.3V 5.25V
Up to 50mA load current
39
TPS62736 Buck Converter Efficiency

Maintains
constant efficiency
from 20A to 50mA
>80% down to
10A
IQ = 360nA

40
Battery Management and Peripherals
Battery /
Supercap

Battery
Vibration Power good
Management
Harvester / indicator
Rectifier MPPT (OV, UV, OT)
Targeted
RF

AFE
Solar /
Boost Radio
Thermal Regulator
Charger MicroProc.
Harvester
Sensor

Cold
Start

41
BQ25570 Essential Peripheral Circuits

Bias Currents
POR / Bias
Current
POR 2kHz CLK
Generator
Osc.

MPPT_CLK

UV BUCK_EN
UV
OV CHG_EN
State OV
VBAT_OK Machine BattMgmt_EN Battery
Manager VBAT_OK
OT BGP VOUT_REF
BGP_EN
Bandgap
OT

Protect the storage element, manage the IC and

indicate level of stored energy
42
 Battery Mgmt. Architecture
VSTOR
EN
ENZ
OVS
UZ
Rh OVS

KZ
R2 R3 R6 OVSZ
- OV_REF
-
UV C3
1.25V C1 R7 1.25V +
R1
+
R4 OVS
OVS
OK
-
EN C2
R5 1.25V +

Over voltage
EN

Under Voltage Battery OK

Resistor programmable UV, OK, OV

Cycle repeats every 64ms
Duty cycled and sampled reference 43
BQ25570 Quiescent Current

VBAT = 3V

Overall Quiescent
current : 480nA

Battery leakage
below UV = 1nA

Currents in nA 44
 BQ25570 System Startup

Battery OK
goes high
VBAT_OK
Battery at
Switch between OV = 3.3V
VSTOR and VBAT
VSTOR closes at UV

VBAT
Open circuit
VIN = 330mV voltage sampling
for MPPT
Cold Start Charger On OV

45
Computing Architecture with Energy Harvesting

Rapid transition from sleep to active

[M. Qazi, ISSCC 2013]

 Energy Harvesting with Battery Backup

http://www.ti.com/product/bq25505

Autonomous handoff between primary and secondary storage

Energy Combining and Inductor Sharing

S. Bandyopadhyay, [VLSI Symposium 2013]

A. Shrivastava, [VLSI Symposium 2014]

A single inductor is shared between multiple harvesters

and output voltage regulators
Indoor Light Harvesting for Bluetooth LE (BLE) Beacons

Required Energy Budget Calculation

Solar cell provides 400W

at 450Lux
 Summary

Advances in circuit design techniques and architectures

have made it possible for electronic systems to be
completely self-powered
Energy harvesting sources differ in characteristics from
conventional batteries requiring specialized interface
circuits
Optimized energy processing circuits are crucial to manage
the ultra-low power levels output by energy harvesters
Holistic optimization of the complete system from the
energy sources to the load circuits is key to building and
powering a successful IoT system

50