Reduce power consumption in Edison

[GGabr2]

I'm currently working on an embbeded project using the intel edison, but we have current consumption limitations in our design. My question is if it is possible to reduce the power consumption. I've disabled unnecessary kernel modules and services, but it's not enough.

What I really need is to lower the CPU clock frecuency, disable HW modules, set low power modes through the ACPI...

From what I have read in posts (last year's post), there is no official documentation or information about configuring the ACPI to enter low power modes. I was wondering if there has been any updates on this subject. Or, as a workaround, is it possible to lower the CPU frecuency clock manually through configuration files, and/or disable HW modules? For example, my application does not require the quark MCU, and I can't tell if it's being powered or not at boot.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

[idata · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Currently, CPU power management is not available. There are certain ways to reduce power consumption on the Edison. One of these ways is disabling Wi Fi. Wi Fi is one of the features of the board that consumes a lot of power, if you don't plan to use it, you can disable it.You can disable Wi Fi with iwconfig wlan0 power off. There are also other options iwconfig to lower Wi Fi power such as iwconfig wlan0 txpower .Look at http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/boards-and-kits/intel-edison-boards/000006123.html?wa... http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/boards-and-kits/intel-edison-boards/000006123.html?wa... for a comparison of Wi Fi power consumption.We'll look more into whether the MCU can be turn off and if it's powered at boot and come back to you soon.Sergio

[GGabr2]

Thanks for your reply Sergio.

Unfortunately, Wi-Fi is one of the little requirements in our product, so we can't remove it.

What i'll try to do is a bit of research in creating a customized image with yocto, minimizing the drivers and modules, and try to manually configure the boot sequence (that's the part where we have more trouble, reaching 300mA peaks when powered with 3.3 V). I'll wait on any news about power management.

Thanks,

Gabriel

[idata]

Hi gabi_srm91,

Besides disabling WiFi you can also enable power management of the serial portroot@edison:~# echo auto > /sys/devices/pci0000\:00/0000\:00\:04.3/power/controlMake sure the MCU is not running any application (it should not be running any application unless programmed)Sergio