A First Look at Otii Arc Power Supply, Power Meter, and DAQ Unit

Otii Arc Package
I have recently been contacted by a Swedish company called Qoitech about their Otii solution that aims to help hardware and software engineers achieve long battery life for their IoT devices or apps. At the heart of Otii is Otii Arc hardware that acts as a power supply, voltage and current meter, and data acquisition (DAQ) unit.

The company has now sent me a unit for review. I’ll start with a first quick post describing the device and checking out the hardware and interfaces, before writing my experience, or a getting started guide, with Otti hardware and software.

Otii Arc
Front with DAQ Interface and Power Output – Click to Enlarge

Otii Arc specifications:

  • Current/Voltage Measurement
    • Current
      • Accuracy – ±(0.1% + 50 nA)
      • Sample Rate – in ±19 mA range:  4 ksps;  in ±2.7 A range: 1 ksps;  in 0 – 5 A range: 1 ksps
      • Analog Bandwidth (3dB) –  400 Hz
    • Voltage
      • Total accuracy –  ±(0.1% + 1.5 mV)
      • Sample Rate –  1 ksps
  • 14-pin DAQ Interface
    • UART – 110 bps to 5.25 Mbps
    • DIGITAL I/O; GPO1, GPO2, TX (6)
      • Operating Voltage – 1.2V to 5V
      • Imax: 10 mA
    • ADC pins
      • Voltage input: 0 to 5V
      • Differential with ADC+/ADC-
        • Resolution –  2.5 µV
        • Accuracy –  ±(0.1% + 10 µV)
        • Input Impedance – 220 kΩ
      • Single ended with ADC+
        • Resolution –  1.25 mV
        • Accuracy –  ±(0.1% + 7.5 mV)
        • Input Impedance – 830 kΩ
    • SENSE pins (SENSE- and SENSE+)
      • Voltage input –  0 to 5V
      • Resolution – 1.5 mV
      • Accuracy – 1%
      • Input impedance –  1 MΩ
  • Power Supply
    • Via external USB Power Supply
      • Output Voltage
        • Auto range – 0.5 to  3.75V
        • Locked to High Current range – 0.5 to 4.2V
        • Resolution – 1mV
      • Max Output Current – 250 mA
    • Via external 7.5-9V Power Supply
      • Output Voltage
        • Auto range – 0.5 to  4.55V
        • Locked to High Current range – 0.5 to 5.0V
        • Resolution – 1mV
      • Max Output Current – 2.5 A (continuous), 5.0 (peak)
  • Operating Temperature – 15 ºC to 25 ºCIt looks like I may have to lower my aircon temperature if I want accurate readings.
Otii Arc Power Supply
Power Inputs: DC jack and Micro USB port – Click to Enlarge

The device comes with a USB to micro USB cable, as well as a welcome card with a 2-week free-trial for Otti Enterprise, and a short guide showing how to get started.

Welcome Card & Quick Start Guide

I’ll look into device setup and software in details in the second part of the review, but basically you’d need to install Otii software for Windows 10/7, Ubuntu 18.04/19.10, or Mac OS, and connect Otii Arc to your host computer and device under test (DUT).

If you wonder what the differences are between the Otii Standard and Otii Enterprise the table below provides a quick side-by-side comparison.

Standard vs Enterprise

Basically, the Enterprise version offers a higher level of support and some extra features. For example, the battery toolbox helps developers pick the right battery by making Arc act as a battery profiler and emulator. It is also available as an option (annual subscription) for Otii Standard.

Otii Arc (Standard) can be purchased on various distributors such as Seeed Studio for $575, while you’d need to contact the company to get a quote for the Enterprise version. More details can be found on the company website.

Continue reading “Getting Started with Qoitech Otii Developer Tool using ESP8266 and Raspberry Pi 4 Boards“.

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7 Replies to “A First Look at Otii Arc Power Supply, Power Meter, and DAQ Unit”

    1. My team at work uses the Otii all the time, to measure our ultra low power consumption CatM and NBIot modules. We cant live without it anymore.

      1. I’ve started to use it, and now I understand why you can’t live without it anymore.
        It’s so useful to monitor power consumption, and when running the UART console at the same time, it’s so easy to match the console with power. If I make changes to the code I can compare both after and before easily, and see the average energy used. I’ve used it with ESP8266 and Raspberry Pi 4 for now.

        And I’ve not tried the battery emulation part yet.

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