<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >
We abandon the push button, and ask one board to sent messages continuously, while the other receives. Once this constantflow of data is established, you will be able to see the energy consumption of the transmitting and receiving boards,for a number of settings of transmission power.

Running the code

  • Start from the code used in 4.2. Simple Tx/Rx .
  • Replace line P1IFG&= ~0x04; by P1IFG |= 0x04; . This means that once you push the button, the board will start sending an infinite number of messages. This is because you force the interrupt flag to remain active, i.e. when your code leave the Interrupt Service Routine, it immediately re-enters because, according to the interrupt flag, there is still and interrupt pending.
  • Reprogram both boards, switch them on, and push one button.

Energy consumption

  • You may wish to command out lines P1OUT ^= 0x02; and P1OUT ^= 0x01; so that your LEDs remain off not to measure their energy consumption;
  • Use the oscilloscope to measure the energy consumption;
  • Make sure you obtain results which are close to the following figures.

txrx
Energy consumption with continuous Tx/Rx.

As you can see, the radio accounts for most of the energy consumed by the mote. Additionally, as a rule of thumb you may safely consider that transmitting, receiving and idle listening cost about the same energy.

Impact of transmission power

We want to measure the impact of the transmission power on the current consumption of the board. Therefore:

  • if not there yet, add the following line at the beginning of your file: #include "radios/family1/mrfi_spi.h"
  • right after line MRFI_Init(); , add mrfiSpiWriteReg(PATABLE,0xFF); . This programs the PATABLE register of the CC2500, which is responsible for the transmission power of the radio. You can put any value between 0x00 and 0xFF; , which is then mapped to a transmission power as shown in the next table.
  • Use your oscilloscope to visualize the maximum energy consumed. Repeat this for different values of PATABLE . Check that you have results close to the ones presented in the next figure.
Impact of transmission power on current
register power current
0x84 -24dBm 16.1mA
0x55 -16dBm 16.5mA
0x97 -10dBm 18.3mA
0xA9 -4dBm 22.6mA
0xFE 0dBm 27.6mA
0xFF 1dBm 27.9mA

power
Impact of transmission power on current

Varying the transmission power from -20dBm to 0dBm (i.e. 200 times more power) only doubles the motes current consumption. This is because the electronics account for the largest amount of energy: at 0dBm, 1mW is sent over the antenna, while the mote consumes 27.6mA*3V=82.8mW.

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, Ezwsn: experimenting with wireless sensor networks using the ez430-rf2500. OpenStax CNX. Apr 26, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10684/1.10
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'Ezwsn: experimenting with wireless sensor networks using the ez430-rf2500' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask