Testing for IoT Power Concerns (.PDF Download)

Like all embedded systems, those considered part of the Internet of Things (IoT) require power, and that power needs precise management for the system to function as designed. A typical IoT-related system will comprise a number of elements that generate and/or process analog, digital, and serial-data signals.

Consider a generic example of an IoT system (Fig. 1), consisting of a 32-bit CPU, power-supply block, digital I/O, DDR, an FPGA, and more. Such systems might also include sensor signals, making it what some might call a “deeply embedded” system, as well as some form of wireless connectivity such as a Bluetooth transceiver. Powering it all is a (typically) 12-V supply that feeds a power-management IC (PMIC).