The Hidden Cost of Performance: How Microcontrollers Drain Batteries in Sensor-Integrating Machine Elements

Sensor-integrating machine elements (SiMEs) represent an effective approach for condition monitoring. These systems require highly integrated electronic circuits that combine a compact form factor, long battery life, precise signal acquisition, and reliable wireless transmission under elevated temperatures. Such conditions impose strict limits on power consumption while still demanding sufficient computing capability for data preprocessing, compression, and feature extraction. This article presents measurements of several microcontrollers commonly used in SiMEs. Processing speed, energy per operation, and quiescent current were analyzed to quantify the tradeoff between computational efficiency and battery lifetime. The results show that the energy required for basic arithmetic operations varies by up to three orders of magnitude between devices. Modern high-performance microcontrollers demonstrate excellent computational efficiency but exhibit quiescent currents exceeding 100 µA at temperatures above 90°C, making them unsuitable for long-term battery operation. The presented data provide a quantitative basis for selecting suitable microcontrollers for future SiME designs, enabling an informed balance between processing capability, energy efficiency, and thermal robustness.