Systems, devices and methods for power management and power estimation

A method of power management for a microcontroller, comprising:

• implementing, by a first core of the microcontroller, a system power transient management component;
• implementing, by one or more second cores of the microcontroller, one or more applications;
• wherein implementing by the first core of the system power transient management component comprises the system power transient management component:
• dynamically identifying an expected load transient event to occur in the microcontroller;
• determining power control data to optimize a response to the identified expected load transient event, the power control data comprising a power control mode and associated parameters;
• and
• providing the power control data to a power management integrated circuit (PMIC).

A hardware power estimator circuit for estimating power of an electronic device providing a plurality of (Intellectual Property) IP blocks, the hardware power estimator comprising:

• a hardware artificial neural network comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes arranged in one or more stages, wherein each individual stage comprises:
• a first input layer including values indicating activities of the electronic device and/or indicating active cells of the electronic device;
• a second input layer including a weighted set of values;
• an output layer including values calculated for the individual node stage;
• at least one intermediate layer situated between the input layer and the output layer;
• wherein each node of the at least one intermediate layer comprises a multiply and adder (MADD) circuit configured to calculate a value for the respective node using values received from the first and second input layers.