Engineers face a basic dilemma when designing advanced wireless devices. They need to fit a large amount of functionality into a given form factor that's often determined by the size of the battery and display, the complexity of the user interface, and design ergonomics. In addition, a battery's available energy is defined by its chemistry, which determines its energy density and the battery's physical size. These changing parameters typically force the designer to use battery power more efficiently to satisfy consumers' expected stand-by and run times.
Consumers of 3G mobile handsets demand more run-time from one battery charge and a smaller form factor. Today's mobile handset designer must consider several factors to effectively optimize battery power to maximize and extend battery life. As a consequence, battery management, power conversion, and system management must be addressed by a combination of highly integrated power-management units and high-performing discrete components.
By Bill Weiss, Advanced Analogic Technologies Inc. (AnalogicTech) Over the last several years portable system designers have increasingly used large, highly integrated Power Management Units (PMUs) to achieve tremendous advantages in footprint and cost. When consumers think of how small and more affordable their mobile handset or MP3 player is today, they typically think of the rapid...
