Importance of Choosing Optimum Power Management ICs for Connected Devices

Associate Director – Field Applications, Avnet India

- Sambit Sengupta

In our increasingly connected world, technology and smart devices are transforming the way we live. The most visible applications around us are smart and connected consumer products. Powered mostly by small batteries such as a button or coin cell types, these products range from smartwatches, fitness trackers, heart-rate monitors, sports equipment to a variety of other wearable devices. The key parameters that product designers consider in such applications are long battery life and very low power consumption. Power management ICs (PMICs) provide multiple voltage rails and efficient battery management capabilities which help to extend battery life in consumer IoT applications. Applications for wearable or connected devices being very small form factor need precise but simple low-power monitoring circuits. These PMICs need to assess the health and state of charge of these batteries but they themselves need to be ultra-low power consumption devices.