Power Consumption of the WiFi chip only

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msenel
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I know that you describe how to measure the power consumption of the WiCED module, e.g. in (WICED™ Development System (HW User Guide) . However, it seems to me that the method described there measures the current of MCU + WiFi chip. Is there a way to measure the current consumption of the WiFi chip, e.g.; BCM943362 only?

In this AN WICED™ Development System, Powersave Application Note , you seem to have done something similar (pg.14), but I did not see where you probed on the WiCED EVB / what you did on the HW to get these measurements.

Can someone provide some pointers on what needs to be done to isolate the power consumption measurement of the WiFi chip? I need this for a comparative analysis.

Thanks for your help!

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1 Solution
SeyhanA_31
Employee
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Hi,

Since the WLAN radio is not connected to any AP, it is not in AP mode, and host is not specifically put the radio into any mode, radio will be in IDLE mode. It is not receiving nor transmitting.

To measure the power consumption on the BCM43362  current on "VDD_3V3_WIFI" using R93 could be used.

pastedImage_2.png

The VDD_3V3_WIFI is used to drive VBAT and  VDDIO pins.

pastedImage_1.png

Schematics for the BCM943362WCD4 could be found in the Wiced SDK, .../platforms/BCM943362WCD4/schematics directory.

Seyhan

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MichaelF_56
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We support partner modules here on the community, so discrete numbers for the Wi-Fi chip alone would be out of scope with the exception of Linux Radio only modules.  For those, I would need to refer you to a partner like Murata, LSR, Anaren, etc.

If you are a module partner of ours, please refer your questions to the point of contact within Broadcom you are working with to become a partner.

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Is your AN WICED™ Development System, Powersave Application Note​ not listing the methodology via WiCED EVB (with BCM943362WCD4) ?  I am not sure I understand your point....

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MichaelF_56
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I will send you a PM.

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MichaelF_56
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Have you taken a look at the "System Power Consumption" section of the respective datasheet?

For example, the BCM43362 Data Sheet (2.4GHz, 802.11b/g/n)

There are some detailed notes (6,9) related to Powersave mode.

I believe this is related to your inquiry.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

I had the same question, can you confirm when we are in MCU powersave and the WiFi is disabled(not connected to AP, not trying to connect to AP), then the 43362 is in which mode? Is it in Power Save or SLEEP or IDLE?

pastedImage_0.png

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Yep, this is my inquiry. Although I am more interested on how we can "measure" these values on the WiCED EVB.

I guess one way is to measure the total power consumption (MCU + WIFI) and subtract the data sheet value of the power consumption of the MCU based on the mode (running at whatever clock speed it is running or the relevant low-power mode). It would have been nicer not to do this and measure the current that WiFi consuming only.

callmekart​, I think it should be IDLE, but mwf_mmfae​ can confirm.

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MichaelF_56
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Adding seyhan​ and abirjepatil​ from the applications team.

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SeyhanA_31
Employee
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250 replies posted 100 replies posted 50 replies posted

Hi,

Since the WLAN radio is not connected to any AP, it is not in AP mode, and host is not specifically put the radio into any mode, radio will be in IDLE mode. It is not receiving nor transmitting.

To measure the power consumption on the BCM43362  current on "VDD_3V3_WIFI" using R93 could be used.

pastedImage_2.png

The VDD_3V3_WIFI is used to drive VBAT and  VDDIO pins.

pastedImage_1.png

Schematics for the BCM943362WCD4 could be found in the Wiced SDK, .../platforms/BCM943362WCD4/schematics directory.

Seyhan

Thanks, seyhan!

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