B#: a battery emulator and power profiling instrument

This paper describes B# (B-sharp), a programmable power supply that emulates the behavior of a battery. It measures the current load, calls a battery simulation program to compute the voltage in real time, and controls a linear regulator to mimic the voltage output of a battery. This instrument enables validation of battery-aware power-optimization techniques with accurate, controllable, reproducible results. This instrument also supports training mode with actual batteries, and it can even be used for recording and playback of a solar power source. This design has been prototyped and tested on hand-held devices with high accuracy and fast response time.