Low Power MCU Comparision: nanoWatt XLP Vs. MSP430

[masidelchi]

What's the reference of expansion board??

[MicrochipTechnology]

@masidelchi “The daughter card shown uses our standard PICtail™ Plus interface. It is a custom current measurement board designed for comparing PIC microcontrollers with XLP Technology to competitive devices. While it is not available for sale, we are happy to provide schematics for this demonstration board. If you are interested, please contact your local Microchip Representative for assistance or request a help ticket on our website.

[yttrax]

Low power consumption is always nice, but this is getting a bit pointless. In practice, all current MCUs provide adequately low power consumption in their deeper sleep modes (< 1µA). That's Good Enough (tm) even if you have tiny button cells. You'll have more problems with the cell's self discharge and getting the circuitry around your MCU energy efficient.

[MicrochipTechnology]

@yttrax “It is true that many MCUs now provide sleep power consumption at <1uA. What sets PIC MCUs with XLP apart is that we can also run a Real-Time Clock, Brownout Reset, and Watchdog Timer & still be around 1uA. Many new applications are looking to add RF capability. This taxes the battery much more than a traditional low power application. Combine that with the increasing interest in Energy Harvesting, and soon even u-Amps matter! Thanks for your comments.

[synthpop88]

@yttrax I wouldn't necessarily agree. I agree with the MicrochipTechnology response especially on the energy harvesting front. There are fascinating and innovative techniques emerging (like microbial fuel cells) that provide very low, but very steady, environmentally friendly remote power. On a budget of a few hundred uW, we need all the energy effiiciency in MCUs we can get! Keep up the good work Microchip!

[sdroller]

Lots of marketing hype, but it falls down in real applications...

[PodeCoet]

Microchip kicks ass.

[rtbvhsrip]

Great video, i love Microchip!

But, you're "aspect ratio" is wrong, you have recorded a 16:9 picture, but here it's displayed as "stuffed" 4:3