Kionix, a ROHM subsidiary, announced the KX13x Series, a new product family of accelerometers that the company created to provide superior performance, and improve the capability to accurately detect events and conditions.
The device is targeted for a broad range of low power applications including wearables and health & fitness, key fobs, in-cabin and chassis applications in the Automotive field, as well as condition monitoring and predictive maintenance within the Industrial market. Kionix designed the device to operate at under 1µA. This low power operation allows systems to sleep while the sensor constantly monitors for a motion event. The device then, sends an interrupt signal when action is needed. Additional integrated signal processing engines include Wake-up/Back-to-Sleep, Tilt, Directional Tap/Double-Tap™, and Free fall. The accelerometer also boasts improved linearity, lower noise, and buffering ability.
"What sets these sensors apart from others on the market is the versatility they give product designers", says Kionix's CEO Nader Sadrzadeh. "Our motivation for the KX13x Series was a recognition that the spread of smartphone technologies and the growth of IoT applications have resulted in a diverse set of applications that share some aspects in common (a need for motion, orientation or vibration sensing), but specific implementations often present unique needs for processing the signals. This makes it extremely difficult for any general market sensor to perfectly fit usage needs in every case. To address this challenge, we developed a flexible sensor architecture that lets us, along with the customer, tailor products to work best for the task at hand."
"The most distinguishing feature of the KX13X Series is what we're calling an ‘Advanced Datapath' (ADP)," states John Chong, VP of Product and Business Development. "The ADP is a second set of outputs that can be configured to route the raw signal through multiple highly configurable filters and an RMS calculation engine. This allows one to filter out unwanted noise and events and focus on the signal of interest. Applied to motion and vibration sensing, this enables manufacturers to make their products smarter, more aware, and more usable."
According to Kionix, the device's flexible architecture lets designers deliver capabilities and features with a common footprint. In this way Kionix can supply sensors that optimized for different needs such as low cost, low power, and high performance, and high capability.
Within this sensor family, Kionix supplies standard (up to 16g) and high-g (up to 64g) models, wide bandwidth versions (up to 8kHz), high-temperature types (up to 125°C), ultra-thin versions (0.6mm), as well as automotive-grade (AEC-Q100 qualified) models. The device also allows an optional embedded temperature sensor and an embedded pedometer.
Interested parties can visit or make an appointment by contacting [email protected] and referencing CES2019.
CS and MP availability is scheduled for Feb 2019.
