Introduces the low power features of Atmel XMEGA microcontrollers, including various sleep modes and software controlled clock gating, and details how to shut down unused peripheral clocks in both normal operation mode and sleep mode.
The handbook introduces Atmel XMEGA low‑power concepts, describing the various sleep modes (Idle, Power‑down, Power‑save, Standby, Extended Standby) and how clock gating and peripheral control affect power consumption. It also explains the Power Reduction (PR) registers that allow selective disabling of peripheral clocks.
Practical training tasks are included, such as a basic sleep example, configuring Power‑save mode with the RTC, using PR registers, and measuring current consumption on the Xplain evaluation board with a shunt resistor. Additional resources and Atmel support contacts are listed at the end.
| PRGEN register address | +0x00 |
|---|---|
| PRPA register address | +0x01 |
| Supported sleep modes | Idle, Power‑down, Power‑save, Standby, Extended Standby |
The training requires knowledge of Atmel XMEGA basics, clock system, optional DMAC and ADC, AVR Studio 4.18 or later, WinAVR/GCC, an XPLAIN evaluation board, and a JTAGICE mkII.
Power‑save mode keeps the RTC clock running, allowing wake‑up from RTC overflow or compare‑match interrupts.
Peripheral clocks can be stopped using the Power Reduction (PR) registers, which gate the clock to individual modules.