Validate Battery Run-time Under Real-world Conditions

Introduction

When you are validating battery run-time, conduct testing with realistic user proiles based on how your mobile device is really operated.

Basic talk- and standby-time tests no longer realistically validate battery run-time. Today’s smart mobile devices provide a wide variety of innovative data-based applications. Many of these applications run simultaneously. A consequence of all this is battery run-time continues to worsen. Battery run-time is better deined and validated by user proiles that relect how mobile devices are realistically operated. Cellular service providers and industry-standard compliance tests are moving in this direction. Employing realistic user proiles when validating battery run-time will assure your device performs to expectations. Table 1 shows examples of some realistic user proiles.

Battery drain is not simply a weighted sum of currents for individual activities. User activities and network conditions take place both simultaneously and sequentially. To achieve realistic results when you are validating battery run-time, the test system needs to emulate these user activities and network conditions in comparable fashion. It needs to log these activities and conditions in conjunction with the battery current drain over a suitable period of time to account for statistical variation. It needs to have sufficient automation to make tests as “turn-key” as possible to quickly and routinely run them when and where needed for reproducibility. It should have flexibility to let you easily modify tests to address new or updated requirements.

Creating such a test system requires a substantial amount of equipment, software, development work, and documentation. This task can be greatly simplified by pairing Keysight Technologies’, Inc. N5972A interactive functional test (IFT) software and the 8960 or E6621A wireless communications test set with either the 14585A control and analysis software and N6781A source/measure unit or the 14565B device characterization software and 66319D DC source.

The N5792A sets up the 14565B or 14585A software and respective DC source to log your device’s battery drain together with its activities and network conditions. When using the N5972A in its interactive mode, you can automatically generate programming code and drop it into a script editor. The code can then be further enhanced for quickly developing automated tests.