Patent ID: 8498592

Claim:
A digital radio transmitter comprising: a transmitter circuit receiving for transmission digital data having data elements, the transmitter circuit also receiving control signals controlling transmission power and transmission rate of the transmission; an electronic memory storing data providing an energy profile function relating a plurality of transmission power and transmission rate values to energy consumption values of the digital radio transmitter, the energy consumption values of the energy profile capturing energy inefficiencies of actual hardware of the digital radio transmitter and providing at least one of: (i) a relationship reflecting energy use per bit as a function of transmission rate where energy use per bit decreases less than in inverse proportion to increase in transmission rate; and (ii) a relationship reflecting energy use per bit as a function of transmission power where energy use per bit increases less than in proportion to increase in transmission power; and an energy management unit communicating with the transmitter circuit and electronic memory and operating in at least one mode to read the energy profile function to generate the control signals for transmission power and transmission rate to the transmitter circuit to reduce energy consumption per data element during transmission further including a transmission error detection circuit providing a signal indicating error rate in the transmission by the digital radio transmitter; and wherein the energy management unit also receives the signal indicating error rate and reads the energy profile function to dynamically generate the control signals for transmission power and transmission rate to the transmitter circuit to reduce energy consumption per data element during transmission in response to changing error rate.