SWRA478D February   2015  – January 2019 CC1310 , CC1312PSIP , CC1312R , CC1314R10 , CC1352P , CC1352P7 , CC1352R , CC2640 , CC2640R2F , CC2640R2F-Q1 , CC2642R , CC2642R-Q1 , CC2650 , CC2650MODA , CC2652P , CC2652R , CC2652R7 , CC2652RB , CC2652RSIP

 

  1.   Trademarks
  2. 1Introduction
    1. 1.1 Acronyms
  3. 2Standby
  4. 3Understanding Bluetooth Low Energy Power Metrics
  5. 4SimpleLink Bluetooth Low Energy Wireless MCUs
  6. 5Power Measurement Setup – Preparing the DUT
    1. 5.1 Requirements
    2. 5.2 Embedded Software
    3. 5.3 Hardware
      1. 5.3.1 CC26x2R LaunchPad
    4. 5.4 BTool (Optional)
  7. 6Measuring Power Consumption With a DC Power Analyzer
    1. 6.1 Test Setup
      1. 6.1.1 Analysis Software Setup
    2. 6.2 Measurement Using Scope
    3. 6.3 Analysis
      1. 6.3.1 Advertising Event
      2. 6.3.2 Connection Event
      3. 6.3.3 Power Consumption Calculator
  8. 7EnergyTrace
    1. 7.1 Modifying the rfPacketTX Example
  9. 8References
  10. 9Revision History

5.2 Embedded Software

The BLE-stack is either a stand-alone deliverable or provided as part of the Software Development Kit (SDK), depending on which device you use. The software package includes the full Bluetooth Low Energy protocol stack along with sample applications. The protocol stack is provided as a pre-qualified library component and the complete system is operated by an RTOS that introduces a threaded environment with full power management. The power management is maintained by the Power Driver automatically and the application can constrain tasks or disallow certain power modes, if required. The current consumption for the different power modes can be found in the device-specific data manual (Section 8).

The generic sample application simple_peripheral that is included with the BLE-Stack is ideal to use in order to analyze power consumption for the sole Bluetooth Low Energy protocol running on a wireless MCU. Depending on what version of simple_peripheral you are using, the application does one or more of the following:

  • Advertise with legacy advertisements on LE 1M PHY
  • Advertise with extended advertisements on LE Coded PHY
  • Start a clock that calls a periodic event
  • Print messages on UART display

For the CC2650 LaunchPad, the external flash is not turned off by default, hence you will measure an extra current consumption of about 7 µA. The flash can be turned off by calling the ExtFlash_open(); followed by ExtFlash_close(); (functions found in ExtFlash.h/ExtFlash.c). To get a power measurement that is easy to interpret, you should disable all application behaviors described above except legacy advertising, and make sure the external flash on your board is shut down.

For more information including instructions on how to program the CC26x0, see the CC2640 and CC2650 SimpleLink™ Bluetooth® low energy Software Stack 2.2.1 Developer's Guide [1]. For CC13x2/CC26x2, see the BLE5-Stack User's Guide [23].