3.4.3 Power Analysis using Cursors

In order to analyze the current more closely, the cursor feature of the Power Analysis module is useful.

Todo:
  • Open the Control Panel in the upper right corner of the Power Analysis module
  • Expand the Cursors section
  • Click the Enabled box to turn the cursors on
Remember: If the current measurements are still running, make sure to disable Auto-scroll before enabling the cursors, or else the graph view will rapidly scroll away from the cursors.

The example above shows the current consumption of a target board with a LED that toggles ON and OFF regularly.

The cursor data at the bottom of the module shows that the current consumption when the LED is OFF is about 354 μA, while the current consumption when the LED is ON is about 6.5 mA. The average current consumption during one period of the LED toggling is about 580 μA. As the current measurement channel is also monitoring voltage, you can measure the power consumption directly. Enable this by setting the corresponding options in the Measurements section of the Cursors section in the Control Panel of the Power Analysis module.