New ultra-low-power gyroscope and accelerometer combos cut power consumption by as much as 50% over current-generation products, dramatically improving performance of host devices. Products enable much longer “always-on” motion-sensing for wearables and remote controls, game consoles, drones, and virtual reality, and improved optical image stabilization (OIS), a key feature for smartphones, tablets, and digital cameras
STMicroelectronics has revealed the latest generation of its highly miniaturized 6-axis MEMS inertial modules1 with ultra-low-power design that strengthen the smartphone’s emerging role as an “always-on” personal assistant and enhance user experiences for digital cameras, wearables and remote controls, game consoles, drones, and virtual reality.
Continuous context sensing enables smartphones and other applications to respond instantly and intelligently to the user’s needs, but demands ultra-low-power sensors to maximize battery life.
ST’s new LSM6DSL and LSM6DSM, with innovative power management, enhanced gyroscope design, and energy-efficient data batching, cut power consumption by as much as 50% over the current state-of-the-art LSM6DS3 and LSM6DS3H devices. Compliance with the most popular and innovative operating systems helps developers maximize the value of the personalization and power-saving features of popular mobile platforms.
In addition, the latest sensors boost gyroscope accuracy to support enhanced user experiences such as Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), visual localization detection, and gesture recognition, while the accelerometer-driven step detection, step counting and pedometer, as well as tilt and significant-motion detection are also integrated to make life easier for handset and application developers.
Of the two new modules, the LSM6DSM has a dedicated additional processing and serial port for camera OIS. The gyroscope has 40% lower noise and a configurable filter that together boost camera-OIS performance from the current-generation device (LSM6DS3H). Compared to solutions that use a discrete OIS sensor, the LSM6DSM not only saves component count and board space, but consumes less than 1/6 the power of the alternative designs.
Key technical specifications:
- 3-axis MEMS accelerometer: full-scale range ±2/±4/±8/±16 g
- 3-axis MEMS gyroscope: full-scale range ±125/±245/±500/±1000/±2000 dps
- Operating current: 0.4 mA (combo normal mode); 0.65 mA (combo high-performance mode)
- Analog supply-voltage range: 1.71 V to 3.6 V
- Smart FIFO with batch acquisition, up to 4 KB
- SPI & I2C serial interface with main processor data synchronization feature
- Pedometer, step detector and step counter
- Significant motion and tilt function
- Standard interrupts: free-fall, wakeup, 6D/4D orientation, click and double-click
- Embedded temperature sensor
- 2.5 mm × 3.0 mm × 0.83 mm LGA-14 package
The new devices will be available from Q2 2016, as 14-lead LGA modules that are pin-and-footprint compatible with the LSM6DS3/H. Prices for orders of 1,000 pieces are $1.99 for the LSM6DSL, and $2.50 for the LSM6DSM with dedicated OIS output.
