Atmel’s Andreas Eieland (@AndreasMCUguy) spoke with us about low power chips and benchmarks, including tips for measuring and achieving the lowest power possible.

EEMBC has a low power benchmark: ULPBench. EETimes wrote up a great introduction to the benchmark. Atmel’s SAM-L posted some excellent numbers for ULPBench.

Chris wanted to look at processors between Cortex-M4 and phone chips. Andreas suggested the SAM7, SAM E, and Cortex-A5.

Programmable logic blocks (Look Up Tables)

Coding tips and tricks for AVR micros (most things apply for all embedded development)

App Note: Ultra Low Power Techniques

App Note: Performance Levels and Power Domains

Andreas was also on Episode 15: Robot on the Front, speaking about how the AVR processor line came to life, why there is an AVR in Arduino, and the spirit of making things.

The Planet contest ends Friday June 12 (at midnight your time). Check out their jobs and send in your contest entry.

Also, check out Elecia’s BLE Intro.