Hardware and services - Power management
| IOTSUS04: How do you minimize power usage and wastage? |
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Minimizing power usage and waste for IoT devices is crucial for both environmental sustainability and operational cost reduction. From an environmental perspective, reducing the power consumption of IoT devices directly translates to a lower carbon footprint. As IoT deployments can consist of millions of devices, any improvements in power efficiency can have a significant cumulative impact on energy conservation and climate change mitigation efforts. Optimizing power usage can also extend the operational lifetime of IoT devices, reducing the need for frequent replacements and minimizing electronic waste. Implementing best practices in energy-efficient hardware selection, software optimization, and intelligent power management strategies can yield benefits in terms of both environmental impact and operational efficiency.
IOTSUS04-BP01 Use energy harvesting technologies to power your device
One approach to improve sustainability is to use energy harvesting technologies to provide some or all of the power needs of a device, reducing reliance on grid-based power sources.
Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established: Low
Prescriptive guidance
Incorporate energy harvesting technologies that can capture renewable energy sources such as solar energy, thermal energy, vibration and mechanical energy, radio frequency energy, wind energy, and piezoelectric energy to power IoT devices. Use batteries or supercapacitors to store the captured energy, providing continuous availability of power for the devices.
IOTSUS04-BP02 Implement tickless operation and low-power modes
Implementing tickless operation and making full use of low power modes available reduces overall power consumption. Reducing power consumption can, amongst other things, have impacts to how long a device can be deployed and the size battery needed to satisfy the business use case. Doing so improves the overall sustainability of the device.
Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established: Medium
Prescriptive guidance
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Use the tickless operation technique in embedded operating systems like FreeRTOS to reduce the frequency of system interrupts or ticks while the system is idle, minimizing power consumption. Use the idle hook function in the embedded operating system to place the microcontroller CPU in a low-power mode when the system is idle.
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For power-critical applications, consider factors such as the latency and power requirements of entering and exiting low-power modes, and choose the low-power mode that provides the best trade-off between power savings and responsiveness.
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Configure the appropriate wake-up sources or events that will alert the system to exit the low-power mode, further minimizing power consumption by avoiding unnecessary wake-ups.
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Implement low-power modes for all project areas. For example, it is important to implement low-power modes for the communication stack in a device as well as the sensor portion of the application.
IOTSUS04-BP03 Allow applications or software running on devices to dynamically adjust settings based on requirements and available resources
Implementing dynamic adjustment of hardware settings and power management techniques on devices is important for sustainability. It enables energy efficiency, extends device lifespan, and optimizes resource utilization. By allowing applications to adapt hardware settings based on requirements and available resources, and leveraging dynamic power management techniques, organizations can develop energy-efficient and long-lasting devices that minimize environmental impact.
Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established: Low
Prescriptive guidance
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Enable applications or software on edge devices to make decisions about changing hardware states, such as CPU frequency, voltage, or other hardware settings, based on the specific requirements of the application and the available resources.
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Implement dynamic power management techniques, where the device adjusts its power consumption in real-time based on the available energy.
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Use low-power libraries and APIs provided by microcontrollers and processors used in IoT devices, as these offer optimized functions for power management and can help in the realization of dynamic power management.
