Sensors contain ColdFire processor, and MEMS accelerometer

Published:2012/3/7 3:11:00 Author:Ecco From:SeekIC

Freescale Semiconductor Inc. pushes a new Xtrinsic family of smart MEMS sensors which combine a 32-bit ColdFire microcontroller with on-chip algorithms for all the common operations like tap, touch, tilt and orientation.

The system-in-package combines a ColdFire 32-bit microcontroller die alongside a three-axis MEMS accelerometer die. The same 3-by-3 millimeter package also includes on-chip power management and dual I2C/SPI connectivity buses—one for communicating with the host application processor, and the other for communicating with up to 12 other sensors needed in a design, such as MEMS gyroscopes, pressure sensors, magentometors, or touch sensors. An Xtrinsic Touch Sensing Software Suite is available now as well as a Touch Sensing Software evaluation board from Freescale.

On-chip power management includes auto-wake monitors, configurable sample rate and auto-sleep modes to powers down sensor when they are not in use. A smart first-in-first out allows samples from sensors to accumulate without having to wake the processor for each new reading, according to Freescale. Every Xtrinsic sensor provides many of the common algorithms that would have to be executed by the application processor, as well as the sensor fusion operations needed to use multiple sensors.

On-chip flash can also adjust custom sensor fusion operations. For example, the on-chip accelerometer can be used together with an external MEMS gyroscope to get ultra-precise motion tracking for 3-D mice and MotionPlus fuctionality. A barometric pressure sensor can also be added for altitude along with a magnetometer, and sensor fusion algorithms can perform indoor navigation tasks.

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