Design of Low-Power VLSI Circuits for Wearable Devices

Wearable electronic devices require ultra-low-power integrated circuits capable of continuous physiological monitoring while operating from limited battery resources. Designing such systems demands aggressive optimization of both dynamic and static power across circuit, architecture, and algorithmic layers. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of low-power VLSI design techniques tailored for wearable platforms, including voltage/frequency scaling, clock gating, power gating, multi-threshold CMOS, event-driven architectures, and approximate computing. A structured framework for optimizing power at near-threshold operating conditions is provided, along with architectural strategies that integrate dedicated biosignal-processing accelerators. Experimental results and comparative metrics from state-of-the-art wearable processors illustrate significant power reductions ranging from 5× to 20×, enabling continuous operation for next-generation health and fitness monitoring devices.