Power source and measure embedded energy consumption

Measure embedded energy consumption

The essential use case for hardware and software engineers striving to develop energy-efficient products daily.

This use case stands as the simplest yet most powerful setup available for continuously monitoring and profiling energy consumption in embedded or IoT devices during development. The setup offers real-time measurement and comparison capabilities, making it ideal for regression testing and firmware debugging to ensure consistent performance and efficiency gains.

Otii Arc/Ace acts as a power analyzer and a bench power supply when connected to the device under test (DUT). Otii Arc/Ace will supply the power to the DUT as set in the Otii app. Otii Arc/Ace will also simultaneously measure current consumption as well as voltage, power, and energy of the DUT.

How to connect

Connect Arc/Ace to your computer by USB. If needed add a power supply via power outlet.
Connect Arc/Ace’s banana connector + to DUT positive battery connector/power connector
Connect Arc/Ace’s banana connector – to DUT negative battery connector/power connector GND

Get started in the Otii app

Add your Arc/Ace under Control in the sidebar. Rename it if desired (right click).
Set-up the wanted voltage to supply your DUT with under Arc/Ace. Power box will be chosen per default. Add OC protection for your DUT.
Under ‘Channels’ choose what kind of measurements you want to record, for example main current, main voltage and main power. These will show as graphs.
Start a recording. Your DUT is still not powered, and you will only see measured noise.
Power the DUT by turn on the supply (On button) next to the Arc/Ace. The data from your DUT is now recorded.

Compare power measurements in real-time with Otii Arc/Ace Pro.

Analyze measurements

Analyze the measurements. You can make selections based on how you want to view your recording. To show the whole recording, press the Fit Width button in the toolbar, or shortcut W.
Auto scale, zoom, drag, or follow graph. There are a few different options for doing this, see Documentation.
Analyze min, avg and max values in the statistics section (right corner of the top graph) for the complete recording (Project) or for the viewed recording (View) by making a selection in Settings.
Analyze statistics for a selected part of the recording by selecting the part of the graph. The values shown are for that selection.
Compare recordings. You can have several recordings in the same project. Renamed them or change colors to keep track of what was done (right click on the recording name). Sync the recordings for an easier comparison by shifting the current recording in time with Alt + Drag graph.
Save by going to File and Save Project. The project is saved as .otii3 file and to open it you only need the Otii application, and no Otii Arc/Ace connected.
Export the project to a zip-archive, that later can be imported. This is handy if you want to collaborate with colleagues and suppliers, you just send your exported .otii3 project file to them.
Export recordings (all measured data) to csv file by right click on the recording in the side bar and choose Export as csv.

Tips & tricks

You can have unlimited number of recordings in you project. You can name them and change their colors. You can align the recordings (press H for help), hide and unhide them for comparison.
When you click in the graph during the measurements, you will see that the scrolling stops, however the recording continues in the background.
In addition to renaming recordings, you can also rename measurements. Right-click on its name in the list of measurements. You can also hide/unhide them.
To open an .otii3 project file, you only need the Otii application, and no Otii Arc/Ace connected. Anyone can go to qoitech.com and download our free Otii software application. Great for sharing with teams/customers/suppliers.

See full product manual

Power source and measure embedded energy consumption