Discrete-time battery models for system-level low-power design

For portable applications, long battery lifetime is the ultimate design goa l. Therefore, the availability of battery and voltage converter models prov iding accurate estimates of battery lifetime is key for system-level low-po wer design frameworks. In this paper, we introduce a discrete-time model fo r the complete power supply subsystem that closely approximates the behavio r of its circuit-level continuous-time counterpart. The model is abstract a nd efficient enough to enable event-driven simulation of digital systems de scribed at a very high level of abstraction and that includes, among their components, also the power supply. The model gives the designer the possibi lity of estimating battery lifetime during system-level design exploration, as shown by the results we have collected on meaningful case studies. In a ddition, it is, flexible and it can thus be employed for different battery chemistries.