New SMB380 miniaturized sensor (Photo: Bosch Sensortec)

Jan. 24, 2007 — Bosch Sensortec, a sensor subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH, announced the release of its new small digital SMB380 acceleration sensor. The SMB380 is suited for human machine interfaces (HMI), free-fall detection, as well as mobile and ultra-low-power applications. The sensor will be available as an engineering sample from January 2007. Bosch Sensortec plans to start series production in June 2007.

Bosch Sensortec is expanding its product range towards miniaturized sensors. In comparison with the current generation, its size is reduced by 50 percent. Measuring only 3 mm x 3 mm x 0.9 mm, the SMB380 fits into the smallest mobile devices. Its current consumption of less than 200 µA is reported by the company to be a benchmark in the market. The new sensor offers several special features, such as a programmable interrupt pin.

The SMB 380 sensor supports customer products in evaluating movement profiles and in releasing reactions via an interrupt line. The sensor logic can be configured with the help of a programmable interrupt pin to analyze high-g or low-g thresholds or to recognize gentle movements.

This, for example, can be used for detecting vibrations or free-fall. Another broad field of application is opened up by a special operation mode. Despite the very low current consumption, this mode can detect acceleration or activate the interrupt function ¿ for example, to wake up a mobile phone from its battery-saving sleep mode.

The extremely low-current SMB380 sensor is reported to consume only 1 µA in standby and less than 200 µA in operation mode. This offers various new fields of application for mobile devices. Several applications can be realized at the same time using only a single sensor, e.g. menu scrolling as well as free-fall detection. In addition, current consumption can be reduced even further thanks to the programmable measurement function.