PowerPlay Automation Guide

This guide explains how to control the PowerPlay audio player via ADB commands for automated testing of power-efficient audio features (PCM Offload).

Quick Start

# Build and install
cd samples/powerplay
../../gradlew installDebug

# Play with PCM Offload enabled
adb shell am start -n com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay/.MainActivity \
    --es command play \
    --es perf_mode offload

# Monitor status
adb logcat -s PowerPlay:V

Supported ADB Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Example
command	string	Action: play, pause, stop	--es command play
perf_mode	string	Performance mode: none, lowlat, powersave, offload	--es perf_mode offload
song_index	int	Track index (0-2)	--ei song_index 1
volume	int	Volume percentage (0-100)	--ei volume 50
background	boolean	Move app to background after starting	--ez background true
duration_ms	int	Auto-stop after N milliseconds	--ei duration_ms 10000
use_mmap	boolean	Enable/disable MMAP audio path	--ez use_mmap false
buffer_frames	int	Buffer size in frames (offload only)	--ei buffer_frames 4096

Common Test Scenarios

Test PCM Offload Mode

adb shell am start -n com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay/.MainActivity \
    --es command play \
    --es perf_mode offload

Background Playback Test

adb shell am start -n com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay/.MainActivity \
    --es command play \
    --es perf_mode offload \
    --ez background true

Timed Playback (10 seconds)

adb shell am start -n com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay/.MainActivity \
    --es command play \
    --es perf_mode offload \
    --ei duration_ms 10000

Compare Performance Modes

# Low Latency
adb shell am start -n com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay/.MainActivity \
    --es command play --es perf_mode lowlat

# Power Saving (non-offload)
adb shell am start -n com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay/.MainActivity \
    --es command play --es perf_mode powersave

# PCM Offload
adb shell am start -n com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay/.MainActivity \
    --es command play --es perf_mode offload

Stop Playback

adb shell am start -n com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay/.MainActivity \
    --es command stop

Machine-Readable Status Logs

The app outputs status to logcat with the PowerPlay tag in a parseable format:

POWERPLAY_STATUS: PLAYING | SONG=0 | OFFLOAD=true | MMAP=true
POWERPLAY_STATUS: PAUSED
POWERPLAY_STATUS: STOPPED | REASON=AUTO_STOP

Status Values

Status	Meaning
PLAYING	Audio playback is active
PAUSED	Audio playback is paused
STOPPED	Audio playback has stopped
ERROR	An error occurred
OFFLOAD_REVOKED	PCM Offload was revoked by the system

Log Monitoring

# Real-time monitoring
adb logcat -s PowerPlay:V

# Filter for status only
adb logcat -s PowerPlay:V | grep "POWERPLAY_STATUS"

# Save to file
adb logcat -s PowerPlay:V > powerplay_test.log

Using the Test Action

For automation scripts, you can also use the dedicated test action:

adb shell am start -a com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay.TEST \
    --es command play \
    --es perf_mode offload

Battery Testing

To measure power consumption with offload vs non-offload:

# Reset battery stats
adb shell dumpsys batterystats --reset

# Run offload test for 5 minutes
adb shell am start -n com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay/.MainActivity \
    --es command play \
    --es perf_mode offload \
    --ez background true \
    --ei duration_ms 300000

# Wait for test to complete, then capture stats
adb shell dumpsys batterystats > battery_offload.txt

Troubleshooting

Offload Not Activating

• Ensure device supports PCM Offload: check AudioManager.isOffloadedPlaybackSupported()
• Some devices only support offload with specific sample rates (usually 48kHz)
• Display must be off for some implementations

App Doesn't Respond to Commands

• Make sure the app is installed: adb shell pm list packages | grep powerplay
• Check if activity is exported: adb shell dumpsys package com.google.oboe.samples.powerplay