Is there a way to minimize power consumption and optimize battery life in my AC4490/AC4790 application?

Is there a way to minimize power consumption and optimize battery life in my AC4490/AC4790 application?

Because the AC4490/CL4490 and AC4790/CL4790 use completely different protocols with different architectures the options for reduction of power consumption are different. The AC4490/CL4490 uses a client/server architecture, while the AC4790/CL4790 uses a masterless architecture.

The AC4490/CL4490 support Sleep Walk Mode on client radios. This mode allows the OEM hosts to send a command to a Client radio which turns of the RF Circuitry. While in Sleep Walk Mode, the processor continues to actively calculate the frequency the Server should be located at, allowing the radio to remain synced with the Server while in Sleep Walk Mode. The Client can maintain this snychronization for up to two minutes (maximum). If the radio is in Sleep Walk Mode for longer than two minutes it will likely need to resync with the Server Beacon before it will be able to transmit data. For additional information on how to implement Sleep Walk Mode see the AC4490 User Guide: Sleep Walk Power Down and Sleep Walk Power-Down Wake Up in the Command Descriptions section.

Unfortunately, because of the masterless architecture of the AC4790/CL4790, these radios do not support any from of Sleep mode, as the radios need to be actively scanning for a beacon from a peer radio that needs to send data.

Additional considerations for maximizing battery life:

• Adding power control so you can programmatically disable VCC to the radio.
• Consider reducing the transmit power - test with lower transmit powers in sites typical of end user experience to see if this is an option.
• Where applicable, consider buffering data to create larger packets of RF data rather than sending several smaller packets. 
• Holding the processor in Reset using the Reset pin will NOT enable a Low Power Mode