Average power consumption by VOXL2
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I just wanted to know what is the average power consumption of VOXL2 board on the ground when the image sensors are connected. @James-Strawson @Alex-Kushleyev @modaltb @Vinny
Thanks in advance.
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Hi @Jetson-Nano
It's a fair question, but the answer is not simple. It depends....
Maybe we can be better about publishing some known standard configs running some standard routines to provide some baselines. However, each user may implement more or less features of the VOXL 2 impacting total current peaks and averages.
For example, we know very light loaded scenarios like simple tracking and running some comms may only be about 1/2-3/4 watt, but some more intense use cases like AI/TensorFlow, Multiple Video Streams, complex processing, etc can pull upwards of 4-5W.
We also see 6-7W as a sort of top-end thermal limit at which point the VOXL 2 will throttle back to keep temps under control.If you can share your configuration, I can ask our SW team if they can quickly profile it for you, but it is not that hard to run VOXL 2 independently using a power supply (not with motors, or not armed if you do have motors) and read the current value from your supply.
Thanks!
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@Vinny My config is the that old starling config (1 Tracking, 1 ToF, 1 HighRes), and I am running people detection on board.
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@Jetson-Nano , as Vinny mentioned, it is very difficult to tell you the average power consumption (even knowing the type of cameras that you are using) because a lot also depends on additional factors, such as what fps and resolution the cameras are running at, what processing you are running on those images, etc.
Also, since you are using ToF sensor, the sensor's power consumption will vary depending on the environment, because the sensor automatically regulates the amount of IR light that it emits based on the proximity and type of objects.
I would strongly suggest that you perform your own testing, you could use a power supply to measure the power consumption of VOXL2 + sensors on the bench. You can set up several tests with different components enabled and document how much power is used in different scenarios. However, please keep in mind that using ToF can lead to varying power consumption (if environment changes), as I mentioned before, so that could throw off your analysis.
Alex
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@Alex-Kushleyev Can I use the voxl-inspect-power service to check the power consumption and do tests in different environment or should I use a different method?
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@Jetson-Nano , the APM should provide a pretty accurate measurement of the power draw (it should be within 5% accurate (but should be consistent) -- it is not a calibrated measurement, so don't expect super high accuracy). If PX4 is running, the battery voltage and current is published, so you can use that.
For sanity checking, i would also recommend to use a bench top power supply which shows you the current draw - you can use this as a second measurement.
Alex
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@Alex-Kushleyev @Vinny Thank you for your response. I'll test it.
