An Analysis of Power

Consumption in a
Smartphone
Aaron Carroll and Gernot Heiser

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

Motivation

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

Problem

Where and how is power consumed in a

smartphone?
Approach: fine-grained instrumentation of
a real device

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

Methodology

OpenMoko Freerunner

NICTA 2010

2.5G smartphone, c. 2008

400 MHz ARM9
Lacking camera, 3G modem
Open design
Amenable to power
instrumentation

From imagination to impact

Methodology
100m
0
Power
Manager

Device

ADC

I = Vd / R
P = IV

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

Methodology

Power
Manager

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

Methodology

Instrumented components

CPU
RAM
GSM
GPS
Bluetooth
LCD panel

NICTA 2010

WiFi
Backlight
Audio codec
Amplifier
NAND flash
SD card

From imagination to impact

Benchmarks

Micro-benchmarks

Suspend
Idle
Backlight
CPU/RAM

Flash storage
Network
GPS

Usage scenarios

Audio
Video
SMS

NICTA 2010

Email
Web
Call

From imagination to impact

Idle Power
90

Suspend: 69 mW
Idle: 269 mW

80

Power (mW)

70
60
50
40

Click to edit Master subtitle style

30
20
10

NICTA 2010

GSM

CPU

GPU

From imagination to impact

LCD

Rest

Display Power
600

Power (mW)

500
400

Backlight

300
Click to edit Master subtitle style

200
100

NICTA 2010

GSM

CPU
From imagination to impact

Display

Rest

CPU and RAM

100 MHz

400 MHz
250
200

100

50

50

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

c ra
fty
mc
f
idle

100

eq
ua
ke

150

vp
r
gz
ip
c ra
fty
mc
f
idl
e

150

eq
ua
ke

Power (mW)

200

RAM
CPU

vp
r
gz
ip

250

Email
400
350

Total: 610 mW

Power (mW)

300
250
200
150
100
50
0
NICTA 2010

GSM

CPU

Display

From imagination to impact

Rest

Video
180
160

Total: 454 mW

Power (mW)

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
NICTA 2010

GSM

CPU

RAM

From imagination to impact

Display

Rest

Audio
140
120

Power (mW)

100

Total: 320 mW

80
60
40
20
0

NICTA 2010

GSM

CPU

RAM

Display

From imagination to impact

Audio

Rest

Validation

Benchmarks repeated on two devices:

HTC Dream (G1)

Google Nexus One (N1)

Total system power only

3-4 years of mobile
technology

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

% power difference
40

NICTA 2010

Ph
on
e
ca
W
ll
eb
(c
el
W
l
eb )
(W
iF
N
i)
et
w
or
k
N
(c
et
el
w
l)
or
k
Vi
de (Wi
Fi
o
)
Au
di
o

Su
sp
en
d
Id
le

Validation

20

-20

-40

-60
G1
N1

-80

From imagination to impact

DVFS

Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling

DVFS reduces power
but does it reduce energy?

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

DVFS

% energy saving

40

ke
a
u
eq

r
vp

ip
z
g

y
t
f
cra

f
c
m

30
20
10
0
-10

Freerunner
G1
N1

-20
-30
NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

Conclusions

Major consumers: display & cell radio

WiFi power low in most situations

CPU can be significant

Future power driver

Where power is not going:

RAM
Audio
Bluetooth
Storage

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact

Conclusions

Both dynamic and static power important

DVFS hanging on (for now)
Networking power not increasing

NICTA 2010

From imagination to impact