ST Unveils New Ultra-Compact 6-Axis IMUs to Boost Drone and Robot Situation Awareness

ST unveiled two new 6-axis inertial measurement units (IMUs) on the 30th as new ultra-compact 6-axis motion sensors. The new products feature improved precision, support event reconstruction, and meet strict sustainable materials standards. The consumer product is called LSM6DSK320X, and the industrial product is called ISM6HGK256X.

ST said the products can be used in a wide range of applications, including consumer and industrial devices, drones, and robots. Target use cases include fitness trackers, smart tags, industrial asset monitoring devices, robots, aerial photography drones, and agricultural surveying drones.

The products were developed as part of ST Sustainable Technology. ST said they were designed to address environmental requirements and regulatory requirements.

The company also incorporated BPA-free and Pb-free standards to comply with materials regulations. This was designed to help the products meet strict sustainable materials standards.

One of the key features of the new IMUs is situation awareness. This function precisely distinguishes among a variety of motions and events, and reconstructs the information it identifies. Based on this, the company is targeting improvements in accident alerts, tool usage monitoring, robot teaching, sports performance analysis, and concussion detection.

ST applied an advanced Super-Symmetric gyroscope architecture to the new IMUs. The purpose of the architecture is to improve sensing precision. It also combines high-precision acceleration tracking across a wide dynamic range.

As a result, the devices can accurately detect motion in a variety of environments. The company said they could improve drone flight stabilization, structural condition monitoring, and game controller performance in applications that require precise motion measurement.

Simone Ferri, ST senior vice president and MEMS sub-group business head, said the product is the latest 6-axis motion sensor architecture. He added that it maximizes signal strength and robustness even in an ultra-compact form factor, while supporting the implementation of new and powerful features for smart applications.

Key sustainable materials compliance items include BPA-free and Pb-free. This broadens the scope of materials applicable to support smart technology innovation companies and helps them respond to tightening environmental and regulatory requirements.

Betaflight also highlighted the vibration resistance of the LSM6DSK320X. Jay Blackman, Betaflight project leader, said ST's LSM6DSK320X delivers unprecedented vibration resistance, and added that the sensor is being adopted immediately in a reference platform under development to take advantage of its performance.

Tianhe evaluated the performance of the LSM6DSK320X in the drone and UAV sectors. Zebo Zhou, Tianhe CTO, said the LSM6DSK320X IMU sets a new performance benchmark for unmanned aerial vehicles and smart, situation-aware consumer technologies.

The speaker said IMU performance requirements for drone flight control units are stringent, explaining that the sensor must accurately measure motion even during abrupt maneuvers, maintain low noise in heavy-vibration environments, and also offer a compact size and high power efficiency. He then said that, based on those evaluation criteria and a comparison of all the products the company tested, ST's LSM6DSK320X was judged to be the best fit.

Source: TECHWORLD · Park Gyu-chan
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=407527

References

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