MEMS sensors revolutionize consumer electronics experience

Rapidly falling prices, significant improvements in software tools that simplify design, and other factors are expected to drive new generations of inertial sensors and bring differentiation to mobile consumer devices. Although the iPhone and Wii games with built-in MEMS accelerometers for the first time introduced gesture recognition to revolutionize the user interface, it took a while for product designers to figure out how to make the most of inertial sensor performance. .

Now, thanks to falling prices and related design knowledge bases and the maturing of the environment and easier sensor design, inertial sensors are poised to tap into a wider range of gesture recognition and location applications; market research agency Yole Developpement estimates those new The development will promote the penetration rate of accelerometers, magnetometers and other components in mobile phones, reaching nearly 50% in five years.

At present, the gyroscope is almost the basic equipment for all tablet devices, mainly because the Apple iPad accounts for more than 90% of the market. In addition, Yole Developpement also expects that the application scale of inertial sensors in consumer electronics will reach an average annual growth rate of about 24% in the next five years, and shipments will reach 5 billion in 2015.

However, the application of inertial sensors in the game field is still limited to a certain degree; accelerometers are already necessary for the mobile phone products to provide horizontal and vertical screen switching functions, and some products are also used to provide pedometers. Features. The magnetometer was adopted in a large number of mobile phone products last year to provide the correct navigation and pointing function. In addition, multiaxis MEMS gyroscopes have only reached the acceptable price point and production capacity of consumer products. For the first time, they have entered the mobile phone market and have already entered all tablet devices. The initial use of games is mainly based on games.

Lower prices will help stimulate wider adoption; Yole foresaw that the price of discrete inertial sensor components will continue to fall. Take triaxial accelerometers as an example, from 0.7 dollars in 2010 to US$0.3 by 2015 The axis is less than $0.1. Part of the reason for the cost reduction of this type of solution is that it can package the accelerometer with the magnetometer, or the accelerometer and the gyroscope, so that the two sensor devices can share one ASIC controller; this can also improve the sensor data.

Another reason for pushing MEM sensor penetration is that it is increasingly easier to convert sensor output data into useful applications. Leading vendors including ST, InvenSense and Others can provide more and more software and libraries to make it easier for handset and tablet device manufacturers to add basic gesture recognition capabilities to system products.

Motion sensor software vendors such as Movea and Hillcrest Labs can also provide device-agnostic software tools to support a wider range of applications, especially for gestures such as air mice, TV remote controls, etc. Controlled application. In addition, the latest version of the Android operating system supports some motion processing application interfaces (APIs), and future versions are expected to support more sophisticated actions.

LG's Android phone Optimus Black uses a gyro to provide a convenient one-handed control interface. Users can switch the screen by tilting the phone (a thumb button on the side of the phone can start the gyroscope); this is Using the first product of the MEMS startup InvenSense gyroscope, this small fabless supplier can get such a huge design case, which means that the foundry technology of the MEMS industry chain has matured and the output has tended to Stability, and whether it is InvenSense or Android software support, can be very smooth sensor data into a variety of functions.

Gyro will also appear to improve the stability of mobile phone shooting images in a short time. At present, the device has also been used in TV remote control to simplify the use of Internet TV. Currently, LG's newly launched TV product supporting point-and-click remote control is equipped with gesture recognition software from Hillcrest Labs for sensor data fusion, calibration and signal processing, and data removal.瑕疵 瑕疵 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 补偿 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。

The main force driving the use of inertial sensors in portable consumer products appears to be the need for more accurate positioning and navigation information; according to GPS chipset suppliers, their customers are looking for more reliable pedestrian navigation capabilities. The combination of outdoor and indoor maps to support location-aware searches allows the user to find the desired location information. Accelerometers and magnetometers are the key to this type of navigation function. With gyroscopes and pressure sensors, it is possible to accurately track changes in the user's pace and direction, and to estimate the user's location where wireless or satellite signals cannot be received.

Some infrastructure is also under development. For example, in the United States, service provider Point Inside has provided some indoor maps and location services for shopping centers and airports, which can be combined with store promotion information. The function of data search and augmented reality in the store will require a set of sensors with higher accuracy and low drift, which will further increase the accuracy from tens of meters to several meters.