Second-Generation SmartReflex™ Power and Performance Management Technologies
Reduced power consumption, optimized performance
SmartReflex technologies are a broad range of intelligent and adaptive hardware and software techniques that dynamically control voltage, frequency and power based on device activity, modes of operation and temperature. Manufacturers of wireless mobile devices and other power-sensitive platforms are confronted with the need to reduce power consumption while enhancing system performance for new multimedia and entertainment applications. SmartReflex technologies – now significantly improved with new SmartReflex 2 techniques – are product-proven capabilities that aggressively meet these challenges and provide a pathway to future solutions.
With SmartReflex technologies, a stringent power budget and enhanced system performance are not mutually exclusive propositions:
The SmartReflex technologies approach is a holistic, aggressive way of reducing power while optimizing performance.
SmartReflex technologies cross traditional boundary lines in systems, coordinating multiple processing cores.
SmartReflex technologies alleviate chip-level leakage power dissipation at deep sub-micron process geometries.
SmartReflex technologies go well beyond traditional device power management techniques and feature plans for next-generation solutions.
TI has shipped more than one billion devices with SmartReflex technologies.
New SmartReflex 2 power and performance technologies:
Dynamically adjusts transistor performance versus leakage,
Dynamically lowers voltages for idle memory banks,
Automates the application of SmartReflex technologies in the design process.
Read the SmartReflex technologies white paper (Adobe Reader required)
High-performance, power-sensitive mobile devices like wireless handsets, mobile media players, PDAs and others face dynamic and static power challenges. Traditional power management techniques like low-power modes, clock gating and dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) will continue, but today’s power imperatives demand a set of holistic and innovative solutions such as those provided by SmartReflex technologies:
At the level of silicon IP, solutions dramatically reduce static leakage power.
SmartReflex technologies coordinate the power consumption and performance of all major system components, including multiple processing cores, hardware accelerators, functional blocks and peripherals.
A library of power management cells enables a granular approach to partitioning a device’s power domains.
Architectural system-on-a-chip (SOC) design solutions include next-generation innovations such as adaptive voltage scaling (AVS), dynamic power switching (DPS) and standby leakage management (SLM).
An open software framework provides intelligent coordination among lower-level hardware technologies and compatibility with OS-based and third-party power management software.
As TI integrates SmartReflex technologies into custom and standard devices at the 90-, 65-, 45-nm process nodes and below, the results can be dramatic. For example, the SmartReflex technologies integrated into the OMAP3430 reduced active power consumption by 66 percent and standby power leakage by up to three orders of magnitude, while enhancing the performance of this multi-core device. Some of the SmartReflex technologies include:
Memory and logic retention cells that support dynamic power switching without state loss, resulting in reduced leakage and lower voltage.
Sensors that adapt voltage dynamically in response to silicon processes and temperature variations.
Leakage management which reduces power leakage by switching to low-power modes in response to active processes.
Workload monitoring and prediction.
Bridge power management among DSPs and other cores.
New SmartReflex 2 technologies add retention ‘til access (RTA), which puts inactive memory banks in lower voltage states, so that power is optimized in memory as well as logic. Also new are forward body biasing (FBB) and reverse body biasing (RBB), which dynamically modulate the body voltage of transistors in order to optimize performance and power consumption. The new SmartReflex PriMer tool goes a step beyond system software to automate the application of power management techniques within the design process, optimizing power consumption and performance while saving time to market. The SmartReflex PriMer automatically generates a Universal Power Format (UPF)-compliant specification, complete with power management features that include RTL descriptions of power domain insertion and protocol control, FBB/RBB and SRAM power management controllers, and a full suite of power management verification and assertion checks.
The effects of these and other innovations have been demonstrated in the billion-plus devices that TI has already shipped with SmartReflex technologies. Future plans call for an ongoing stream of new solutions for wireless mobile devices and a broadening of the SmartReflex approach into other high-performance, power-sensitive industry segments.
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