Radiocrafts recently updated our Battery Lifetime Estimation Tool to account for the recent upgrades we made to our market leading ultra-low power long range Sub-GHz mesh solution, RIIM!

The RIIM upgrades include:

• 150-kbps mode for applications requiring higher data throughput.
• Reduced Power Consumption
  • 50-kbps mode – 35 uA average power consumption at 3.3V for a battery lifetime of 7+ years!
  • 150-kbps mode – 20uA average power consumption at 3.3V for a battery lifetime of 15+ years!

The Battery Lifetime Estimation Tool can be found on our GitHub page and is an Excel worksheet that helps users estimate the current consumption and hence the battery lifetime of a RIIM mesh node!

You can find this remarkably easy-to-use tool on Radiocrafts’ GitHub page! Simply access the input tab and provide accurate and desired network data in the orange fields displayed below. By doing so, you can observe the changes in battery lifetime and current consumption corresponding to your input.

Radiocrafts’ Industrial IP Mesh solution, RIIM, is a very low power solution with several features that reduce power consumption, including:

1. The chosen electronic components inside are low power to start with.
2. The network leaf nodes can be put in “Sleepy” mode, reducing the current consumption to a minimum (4.7 uA).
   1. Deep Sleep mode is possible too reducing the current consumption to 2.8 uA.
3. The output power of the module is configurable to not consume more power than needed during transmit.
4. The TSCH feature, Time Synchronized Channel hopping, allows the Mesh routers to go to sleep when there is no time slot for incoming or outgoing RF data packages.
5. The RIIM Mesh Router can handle down to 35uA at 3.3v average power consumption using the 50-kbps mode and 20uA using the 150-kbps mode enabling all battery devices in the network to further extend the network coverage.
6. The data processing that can be done by the customer in ICI can save substantial power. RIIM supports cloud computing which allows users to selectively transmit interesting data to the Cloud instead of sending all raw sensor readings. For example, they can simply send alarm notifications when a threshold is reached.

You can read more about the low power capabilities in RIIM in our Application Notes!

• AN039: Measuring the Power Consumption of a RIIM Leaf Nodes Operating in Sleep Mode
• AN042: Battery-Operated Mesh: Theory, Benefits, and Performance Results
• AN057: Power Consumption Guidelines in RIIM
• AN060: Low Power and Deep Sleep For RIIM

Want to test RIIM’s low power capabilities for yourself? Buy a development kit from Digi-Key or from a distribution partner near you!

Download the RIIM Battery Lifetime Estimation Tool from GitHub here.