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Battery Life Estimate for an RF Sensor
Summary: The client was in the process of taking a new RF position sensor to market and was finalizing the application requirements. Marketing staff warned engineers that battery life had to exceed one year, or the product was a non-starter. While some flexibility was possible with the selection of a coin cell battery, space was limited, so battery size was a consideration. An estimate of the battery life was made using a "gas tank" analogy (a coulomb counter) based on the usage of power when the sensor was awakened and for every RF transmission. The frequency of RF transmissions was parameterized to allow "what if" games to be played in Excel to obtain a compromise between performance and battery life.
Technologies used: Microchip, Inc. PIC 12F675, Radiotronix RCT 433, Amplitude Shift Keying, Microsoft Excel
Client: TechEn, Inc.
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