Advanced designs in OMAP3 application processors address the need for low power without sacrificing performance. Active power management adjusts a component’s operating frequency or voltage requirements to only those levels necessary. Static power management involves keeping an idle system in a power-efficient state until further processing is required. Plus, Texas Instruments (TI) has developed a number of external voltage regulators that lower the cost of implementing these power-saving features and reduce design time.

In this white paper, we’ll review the concepts behind these various power-saving techniques, quantify the kinds of power savings that you can achieve with each, and discuss external power-management devices and power ICs that help multimedia processors reap the full benefits of these techniques.