STMicroelectronics’ newest miniature motion sensors feature enhanced precision for accurate event reconstruction while meeting the most stringent sustainable-materials standards.
The new 6-axis sensors, or inertial measurement units (IMU), will be used in consumer devices like fitness trackers, smart tags, and professional applications such as industrial asset monitors, robots, and drone applications including photography and agricultural surveying. They are part of the ST Sustainable Technology initiative that drives responsible product development.
Smart applications
Sensors that support event reconstruction let smart applications distinguish between different types of incidents, enhancing capabilities such as accident alerting, tool-usage monitoring, robot teaching, sports-performance analysis, and concussion detection. ST’s new IMUs, the consumer-oriented LSM6DSK320X and industrial-grade ISM6HGK256X, achieve this with an advanced super-symmetric gyroscope architecture that increases sensing precision, combined with precise accelerometer tracking across a wide dynamic range. These capabilities also enhance use cases such as drone-flight stabilisation, structural-condition monitoring, and game controllers.
“By maximising the signal strength and resilience in an extremely compact form factor, the architecture of our latest 6-axis motion sensors will drive powerful new features in smart applications,” said Simone Ferri, Executive Vice President, MEMS Sub-Group, STMicroelectronics. “Moreover, meeting today’s leading sustainable-materials codes such as BPA-free, Pb-free and others helps smart-tech innovators address environmental and regulatory expectations as these become progressively tougher, encompassing additional classes of materials.”
Vibration immunity
“ST’s new LSM6DSK320X sensor delivers unprecedented vibration immunity that we just had to integrate and take advantage of immediately in our ongoing reference platform development,” said Jay Blackman, Leader, Betaflight.
“The LSM6DSK320X IMU is the new performance leader for smart and context-aware consumer technology, including UAVs,” said Dr Zebo Zhou, Chief Technology Officer, Tianhe (Chengdu). “Drone flight controllers place extremely demanding requirements on an IMU: the sensor must not saturate during aggressive manoeuvres, must maintain low noise under severe vibrations, and must be compact and power efficient. Of all the available devices we have evaluated, ST’s LSM6DSK320X was the best match.”