NEO-F10N - Integration manual
3.3 Power management
u-blox receivers support different operating modes. These modes represent strategies of controlling
the acquisition and tracking engines to achieve either the best possible performance or good
performance with reduced power consumption.
3.3.1 Continuous mode
NEO-F10N uses dedicated signal processing engines optimized for signal acquisition and tracking.
The acquisition engine actively searches for and acquires signals during cold starts or when
insufficient signals are available during navigation. The tracking engine continuously tracks and
downloads all the almanac data and acquires new signals as they become available during
navigation. The tracking engine consumes less power than the acquisition engine.
The current consumption is lower when a valid position is obtained quickly after the start of the
receiver navigation, the entire almanac has been downloaded, and the ephemeris for each satellite
in view is valid. If these conditions are not met, the search for the available satellites takes more time
and consumes more power.
3.3.2 Backup modes
A backup mode is an inactive state where the power consumption is reduced to a fraction of that
in operating modes. The receiver maintains time information and navigation data to speed up the
receiver restart after backup or standby mode.
The NEO-F10N supports two backup modes: hardware backup mode and software standby mode.
3.3.2.1 Hardware backup mode
The hardware backup mode allows entering a backup state and resuming operation by switching
the main power supply on and off while maintaining a V_BCKP supply via, e.g. a battery.
V_BCKP must be supplied to maintain the backup domain (BBR and RTC) to allow better TTFF,
accuracy, availability and power consumption at the next startup compared with a cold start. As
VCC is not supplied, the PIOs cannot be driven by an external host processor. If driving of the PIOs
cannot be avoided, buffers are required for isolating the PIOs.
3.3.2.2 Software standby mode
Software standby mode is entered using the UBX-RXM-PMREQ message. The VCC supply, which
must be maintained during standby is switched internally to supply the battery-backed RAM (BBR),
RTC, and PIO sections to save power.
Entering the software standby mode clears the RAM memory including the receiver configuration.
To maintain the configuration, store it on RAM and BBR or flash layers. For more information on
permanence of the stored configuration, refer to
The software standby mode can be set for a specific duration, or until the receiver is woken up by a
signal at a wake-up source defined in UBX-RXM-PMREQ. The possible wake-up sources are the UART
RX or EXTINT pins. Refer to the interface description [
] for more information on the UBX-RXM-
PMREQ message. A system reset with the RESET_N signal also terminates the software standby
mode, clears the BBR content and restarts the receiver.
As VCC is supplied, the PIOs can be driven by an external host processor. No buffers are required for
isolating the PIOs, which reduces cost.
V_BCKP should be left open if not used.
UBXDOC-963802114-12193 - R02
3 Receiver functionality
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