Wednesday 2 March 2011

Multi-Core Voltage regulators could lead to better energy usage

Electronic apps today are expected to be ever smaller. Smart phones are expected to have GPS, w-lan, multiple apps running at the same time and be capable of playing music, but if the battery time is at 4 hours the phone has only so much use.

To promote energy efficiency Harvard graduate Wonyoung Kim has developed and demonstrated a new device with the potential to reduce the power usage of modern processing chips. The “multi-core voltage regulator” (MCVR), almost instantly responds to changes in demand of voltage, which has the potential to solve the mismatch between power and demand.

(Credit: Image courtesy of Wonyoung Kim, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)


Imagine you’re listening to music your iPod MP3 player, the graphics and images processor doesn’t necessarily need power, and similarly if you’re looking at photos the audio processor or the hd video processor don’t need power. Essentially it is faster than other devices like it. It can decrease the voltage supplied by 1Volt in less than 20 nanoseconds. Additionally it uses an algorithm that recognises which parts of the processor aren’t in use at the moment and cuts power to them.

The fact that the device is on the chip means that even individual cores on one processor chip can be managed individually. The short distances between the MCVR and the processor chip further reduce time between changes in voltage.

The biggest supply currently for this device would be in the mobile phone market, although it could also be used in laptops to reduce the heat output of the processor which is currently the obstacle to slimmer laptops.

The device is also readily implemented in current chip designs, meaning that it doesn’t need radical changes in the way chips look, instead in can be incorporated in the chip design.

21 comments:

  1. Nice, looks like everything will be a dual, quad or six core now.

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  2. very interesting stuff. cant wait for six core

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  3. Hell yeah, that would be amazing!

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  4. nice that they can implement these into the same chips. i am sure that they will get smaller as the years pass by.

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  5. thats great. batteries are always lagging in advancement.

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  6. this would help all iphones :)

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  7. Yes batteries have to step up and keep pace with the rest.

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  8. Interesting info for sure

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  9. that is actually pretty awesome!

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  10. It would increase the battery life by much, and i wonder why it hasn't been invented till now already

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  11. Wow this seems pretty damn awesome!

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  12. im actually really surprised that this hasnt been invented before now. Looking at the graphs, it seems that we go against every bit of common sense, sending power to unused portions of a microchip. I can imagine this would cut power consumption drastically!

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  13. wow that would be cool - every little helps, and we have to make our tech more efficient! great post

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  14. Reminds me of the smart-grid technology that power companies used to advertise. Here's to being hopeful.

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  15. really cool this is sure to be helpful in the future

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  16. interesting to see what the future holds

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  17. Wow ... it sounds like something out of Star Wars o.O

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  18. wow, i want one on my samsung epic. battery life is the only thing about the phone that isn't epic.

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