Richard Solarski
As more and more designs are surpassing the capabilities of simpler microcontrollers, today I’m going to walk you through the basic considerations for powering a system on chip (SoC). The first thing you’ll need to do is pull up the data sheet or technical reference manual for the SoC you have selected. Within these documents are five conditions that can help you define the power scheme for your particular processor or SoC:
Of course, you may need more details depending on the processor, but these generic guidelines can quickly help you understand the basic power requirements for a new platform. The number of unique voltage domains will correlate to the number of voltage regulators you need, and summing the individual current limits for grouped modules will define the power capability you need for shared supplies.
You can revisit specific parameters such as tolerances and transient conditions to help narrow down component selections once you have selected a few possibilities. Additionally, searching the datasheet or technical reference documents for keywords such as “must” and “require” can help spotlight other inconspicuous necessities.
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