nRF7002dk nrf5340 Power Consumption

[bcornell]

We are currently testing the nRF7002dk with Zephyr 2.3.0. We have a application that sets up BLE and then sleeps forever in the main thread.

On our development board, we have shorted SB17 to allow us to measure the power consumed by the nrf5340 using P22.

 If I disable logging and other peripherals (SPI, I2C), I have found that if I compile and run the code with 

CONFIG_WIFI=n

CONFIG_WIFI_NRF700X=n

The idle power consumption between BLE advertisements is around 10uA. If I change the options in my prj.conf to

CONFIG_WIFI=y

CONFIG_WIFI_NRF700X=y

The idle power consumption measured at P22 between BLE advertisements increases to 1.7mA. 

To reproduce the issue, build the peripheral_lbs sample for the nrf7002dk_nrf5340_cpuapp board. The idle power consumption will be ~10uA. Then add 

CONFIG_WIFI=y
CONFIG_WIFI_NRF700X=y
CONFIG_NETWORKING=y
CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC=y

to prj.conf and the idle power consumption will be almost 2mA.

 

How do I achieve <1mA combined idle power consumption with the nRF7002dk?

[bcornell]

Hello,

Has there been any updates on a patch for the SDK?

Our project has been halted while we wait for an update.

Thanks,

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi,

Powering off the nRF7002 when not in use has been fixed and merged into nRF Connect SDK. It is currently on the main branch. Shutting down the interface (e.g. using net iface down 1) will shut off Wi-Fi so that it only draws ~2uA.

Best regards,

Marte

[bcornell]

Hello,

I recently setup a development environment using the main branch instead of the released 2.4.0 version.

By adding a disconnect before the sleep in the main loop of the "wifi/sta" example I was able to achieve ~275uA idle power draw.

I was not able to achieve low idle current draw with the "peripheral_lbs" example code from the main branch. I disabled logging in the defconfig files and in the board dts files, exactly as I had done in version 2.4.0 and only managed to get the idle power consumption down to ~1.3mA.

Do you have any documentation which lists all of the configuration/board files that need modified to ensure minimum power draw?

Can you provide an estimate as to when nRF Connect SDK 2.5.0 will be released? 

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi,

We do not have documentation listing all configurations, but we have General power optimization recommendations and Developing with nRF70 Series - Operating in power save modes.

bcornell said:

Can you provide an estimate as to when nRF Connect SDK 2.5.0 will be released? 

For questions about timeline and future releases, please contact our regional sales manager.

Best regards,
Marte

[bcornell]

Hello,

I did some further testing using the main branch instead of the released 2.4.0 version.

I am powering the nrf5340 at 1.8v, separately from the nrf7002.

I am using a modified copy of the "wifi/sta" sample which disconnects from WiFi and sleeps the main thread after successful connection. It also contains large sections of the "peripheral_lbs" code to enable BLE advertising. When I build and run this code, the nrf5340 consumes about ~160uA. This is substantially better than my original test with the released version of the SDK.

On the same development board, if I build and run the "peripheral_lbs" code the nrf5340 only consumes about ~30uA.

Both applications are set with a significantly longer advertising interval than default to reduce power consumption. I have also disabled all logging.

Why does the nrf5340 consume so much power when the nrf7002 wifi support is compiled in and disconnected as compared to compiled out?