Embedded system power supply design

Why is power supply important in embedded system design?

One of the most important and often neglected aspects of embedded system design is power supply. Even in cases that don’t involve mobile or remote systems, it is still critical to consider how power is supplied to and consumed by your system’s various components.

How does an embedded system work?

The operation of the circuit is fairly straightforward: when powered off main, the embedded system runs directly off the source power, while some power is allocated to charging the battery until it reaches capacity. Then when power from main is interrupted, the battery supplies power until it is depleted or main power is reestablished.

How does embedded system power supply work?

An embedded system power supply has to provide voltages at all these levels across the entire system. Power supplies for embedded systems normally must provide the primary input power at a standard voltage, and the power regulation strategy on the PCB provides power at the particular core voltages.

Why is power supply design so complex?

Power supply design for embedded systems is more complex than standard devices due to the presence of complex software that minimizes energy consumption. To best optimize these crucial circuits, software analysis is equally important.

How to design a power delivery system in embedded systems?

For the other aspects of on-board design for power delivery in embedded systems, make sure you use plane layers, sufficient decoupling on each rail, and place high-frequency bypass caps close to VDD/GND pins of ICs to compensate for any lack of on-die/in-package capacitance.

Do embedded systems need a large current draw?

Then when power from main is interrupted, the battery supplies power until it is depleted or main power is reestablished. In terms of component selection, most embedded systems do not require a large current draw, but designers may want to accommodate moderate currents (~1 A) for increased modularity.