Low Power Techniques for Wireless SOCs: Architecture and Integration for Safety-Critical Systems

The integration of power optimization techniques across hardware and software domains represents an essential paradigm for advancing safety-critical wireless Systems-on-Chip. As wireless connectivity permeates critical infrastructure applications, extending operational duration while maintaining reliability has become a fundamental design imperative. Safety-critical wireless systems face unique challenges due to regulatory requirements mandating redundancy and continuous monitoring, features that traditionally increase power consumption. This work examines architectural strategies, RTL techniques, physical implementation methods, and hardware-software co-design approaches that enable power-efficient safety-critical systems. From clock domain partitioning and hierarchical power gating to activity-driven optimization and criticality-based device selection, these techniques work synergistically across abstraction levels. The coordinated implementation of these methods allows designers to satisfy seemingly contradictory requirements for power efficiency and absolute reliability, establishing a framework for next-generation wireless SOCs in domains including medical, automotive, and industrial applications.