Freescale launches motion sensor for next gen consumer devices

According to Freescale, the MMA8450Q accelerometer has been designed to extend battery life for smart mobile devices and capture precise movement via sensitive gesture and orientation detection capabilities. The 3-axis digital sensor is at the core of Freescale's tablet reference design (pictured), which it debuted at CES 2010. The sensor features 12bit digital resolution contained in a 3 x 3 x 1mm package and has an internal first-in/first-out (FIFO) 32samples/axis (X-, Y- and Z-axis) memory buffer. This, says Freescale, is engineered to improve overall system power savings and response time by offloading functions from the host processor. Using the FIFO buffer along with the embedded functions is designed to allow the end processor to analyse only required data, while at the same time helping to protect from the possibility of data loss when multiplexing other sensors on the same I2C bus. Demetre Kondylis, vice president and general manager of Freescale's Sensor & Actuator Solutions Division, said: "Only 3% of mobile phones contained an accelerometer in 2007 according to analyst firm iSuppli, but thanks to advances in MEMS technology and consumer demand for enhanced user interfaces, that number is expected to jump to 33% in 2010. With Freescale's MMA8450Q accelerometer, developers of mobile phones and other consumer devices can now incorporate enhanced functionality while extending battery life and ultimately improving the end user's experience."