Why Near-Threshold Voltage is an Excellent Choice for Hearables

Why Near-Threshold Voltage is an Excellent Choice for Hearables
by Lauri Koskinen on 05-05-2021 at 6:00 am

blog part 3 energy frugality graphic FINAL 1

In the previous blogs on this topic, we’ve seen that utilizing near-threshold voltage (NTV) saves incredible amounts of energy, theoretically up to 10x and in practice from 2x to 4x. But there is a price which makes some applications more suited for NTV than others. This is due to the inevitable performance (speed) loss of NTV as … Read More


It’s Energy vs. Power that Matters

It’s Energy vs. Power that Matters
by Lauri Koskinen on 03-02-2021 at 6:00 am

Lauri at the white board

In tiny devices, such as true wireless headphones, the battery life of the device is usually determined by the chips that execute the device’s functions. Professor Jan Rabaey of UC Berkeley, who wrote the book on low power, also coined the term “energy frugal” a number of years ago, and this term is even more valid today with the proliferation… Read More