© 2020 NXP B.V.
i.MX 8M Nano Power Consumption
Measurement
1. Introduction
This application note helps to design power
management systems. It illustrates the current drain
measurements of the i.MX 8M Nano application
processors taken on the NXP EVK platform through
several use cases. You may choose the appropriate
power supply domains for the i.MX 8M Nano
processors and become familiar with the expected
processor power consumption in various scenarios.
Because the data presented in this application note is
based on empirical measurements taken on a small
sample size, the presented results are not guaranteed.
NXP Semiconductors
Document Number: AN1
2778
Application Note
Rev. 0
,
03/202
0
Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................ 1
2. Overview of i.MX 8M Nano Voltage Supplies .................. 2
3. Internal Power Measurement of the i.MX 8M Nano Processor
........................................................................................... 6
3.1. DDR I/O power ....................................................... 6
3.2. Voltage levels in the measurement process ............. 7
3.3. Temperature measurements .................................... 8
3.4. Hardware and software used ................................... 8
3.5. Measuring points on the EVK platform .................. 8
4. Use Cases and Measurement Results ................................. 9
4.1. Low-power mode use cases .................................... 9
4.2. Audio_Playback, M7 idle...................................... 12
4.3. Core benchmark .................................................... 16
4.4. GPU ...................................................................... 18
4.5. Heavy-load use cases ............................................ 20
4.6. Memory ................................................................. 22
4.7. Storage – SD2.0 Card ............................................ 24
4.8. Storage – eMMC ................................................... 25
4.9. Storage – USB 2.0 ................................................. 26
5. Reducing Power Consumption ......................................... 27
5.1. Steps to be performed before entering Suspend (Deep-
sleep) mode ......................................................................... 28
5.2. Steps to be performed after exiting Suspend mode 29
6. Use-Case Configuration and Usage Guidelines ............... 29
6.1. Suspend mode ....................................................... 29
6.2. System idle mode .................................................. 29
6.3. Audio_Playback .................................................... 32
6.4. 4 Core Dhrystone .................................................. 35
6.5. 4 Core Whetstone .................................................. 36
6.6. Coremark .............................................................. 37
6.7. GPU ...................................................................... 38
6.8. Heavy-load use cases ............................................ 44
6.9. Memory ................................................................. 46
6.10. Storage – SD2.0 Card ............................................ 47
6.11. Storage – eMMC ................................................... 49
6.12. Storage – USB2.0 .................................................. 50
6.13. Important commands ............................................. 50
7. Revision History .............................................................. 54
Overview of i.MX 8M Nano Voltage Supplies
i.MX 8M Nano Power Consumption Measurement, Application Note, Rev. 0, 03/2020
2 NXP Semiconductors
2. Overview of i.MX 8M Nano Voltage Supplies
The i.MX 8M Nano processors have several power supply domains (voltage supply rails) and several
internal power domains. Figure 1 shows the connectivity of these supply rails and the distribution of the
internal power domains.