Power Monitor

ThePower Monitor for the MPLAB® REAL ICE™ In-Circuit Emulator enables designers to identify and eliminate code that consumes high current, in real-time. Used with the MPLAB REAL ICE In-Circuit Emulator and MPLAB X IDE, this development platform allows you to measure, graphically profile, and optimize code power consumption for all of Microchip’s 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit PIC® microcontrollers.

Operating Principles

ThePower Monitor is connected to the MPLAB REAL ICE In-Circuit Emulator. The target hardware is connected to the Power Monitor/emulator through an In-Circuit Serial Programming (ICSP™) cable. External power is applied to the Power Monitor. This power is then supplied to the target board through the ICSP programmer/debugger interface.

In Debug mode, as you control the flow of the application, the Power Monitor logs the power consumed by the target board. Using the Power Monitor, you can determine how the individual lines of code affect the power consumed by the target hardware.

System Requirements

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When using the Power Monitor:

  • Only the basic debug features of the emulator are available: run, halt, single-step, and line breakpoints are available; advanced features such as trace, data capture, and run-time watch are not supported.
  • The target board cannot draw more than one amp from the Power Monitor.

Installation

1

Ensure the emulator is operational and can control the target through the ICSP interface.

2

Connect the Power Monitor to the emulator and the target board as shown in the figure at the top of this page. To do this, you will have to remove the ICSP adaptor from the emulator.

Block-Diagram-PM.png
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3

Install the MPLAB X IDE Power Monitor Plugin:

  • From theTools menu in MPLAB X IDE, selectPlugins.
  • From theAvailable Plugins tab, selectPower Monitor, and then selectInstall.
pm-plugin.png

4

Enable the Power Monitor board:

From theProject Properties window, select thePower Module from the menu underSupported Plug-in Board.

pm-enableboard.png
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5

Configure the emulator / Power Monitor to supply power to the target hardware:

From theProject Properties window, selectREAL ICE underCategories. SelectPower from the pull down menu. CheckPower target circuit from REAL ICE.

ri-power.png
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6

Start the Power Monitor Plugin:

From the MPLAB X IDETools menu, selectEmbedded, and then selectPower Monitor.

pm-start.png
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The Power Monitor window will open up in the lower right hand side of MPLAB X IDE.

pm-window.png
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Using the Power Monitor

Please refer to the video referenced at the top of this page for several step-by-step examples of using the Power Monitor. To see the examples, advance the video to the 4:35 point.

Additional documentation on the operation is available for other configurations in the "Power Monitor User's Guide."

ThePower Monitor (AC 244008) may be purchased atMicrochip Direct.