Analog Devices has introduced a multi-axis motion sensor

     Analog Devices has introduced a new inertial sensing solution that compensates for GPS signal loss or sensing signal singularity in truck fleets, agricultural equipment, commercial and small aircraft, ships, tanks and other vehicles that rely on GPS satellite navigation to maintain accurate position information.

     Similar to the Internet, Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation is becoming a ubiquitous technology that people cannot live without in every aspect of their daily lives. In life and death situations, GPS not only allows emergency ambulances to find the fastest response route. And GPS allows maritime archaeologists to go straight to their targets and search for ship wrecks; In addition, GPS can guide farmers to determine where to place equipment to ensure that their crops are grown to the maximum.

     Using Analog Devices' iMEMS motion signal processing technology, the ADIS16355 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) allows industrial designers to incorporate advanced motion analysis and navigational dead reckoning capabilities into their systems for the first time since they were previously used primarily for military, aerospace, and other high-end applications. And its cost is only 1/10 of the cost of high-end applications such as military sensors. By detecting subtle changes in linear acceleration and angular motion, the ADIS16355 provides dead reckoning, allowing vehicles and other vehicles to keep track until a lost GPS signal can be recovered.

     In addition to navigation, the ADIS16355 can also be used in highly sensitive robots with other motion control devices, and its inertial measurement unit helps ensure that precise movements can be accurately repeated thousands of times. For example, the ADIS16355 can stabilize aerial cameras while taking moving pictures, control robotic arms in factory automation, and ensure the stability of prosthetic limbs.

     The ADIS16355 can be easily integrated into industrial system designs, improving system performance and reducing designer development time by up to a year through precise motion analysis and control. The new inertial measurement unit extends Analog Devices' family of award-winning iSensor smart sensors, which are designed to meet the growing demand for MEMS(micro-electro-mechanical Systems) motion sensors in the industrial market. To date, Analog Devices has sold more than 300 million iMEMS motion sensors.

     The ADIS16355 is a multi-axis motion sensor that cost-effectively combines a gyroscope with an accelerometer to measure all 6 degrees of freedom; Linear motion along the X, Y, and Z axes and rotational motion along the X, Y, and Z axes. Other less integrated sensors require designers to perform complex, costly, and time-consuming motion testing and calibration on multiple axes before they can ensure that the device provides accurate and stable feedback. ADI addresses this challenge with its new ADIS16355 sensor, which is fully factory-calibrated and has a simple programmable interface to ensure high precision and integration out of the box. Compared to the room temperature calibration of the ADIS16350, the ADIS16355 also includes calibration over the entire temperature range and has excellent bias temperature stability (0.005 deg/sec/°C).

     Other similar inertial measurement devices on the market can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, which makes the level of accuracy of the ADIS16355 and ADIS16350 sensors prohibitive for many applications, and compared to other off-the-shelf inertial sensors, the ADIS16355 and ADIS16350 sensors are 50 times more accurate. A more serious obstacle is the complexity involved in integrating and testing a complete solution, as basic sensors present quite complex design challenges. The ADIS16355 and ADIS16350 not only offer an outstanding cost-performance ratio, but also unprecedented ease of use, which will ensure that industrial designers can quickly integrate motion sensing capabilities in a variety of applications.

     "Because many motion sensors leave the factory without calibration, their performance is sensitive to changes in voltage, temperature, vibration, and the effects of other sensors in the inertial measurement device," said Andy Garne, product line lead for iSensor smart sensors at Analog Devices. As a result, making these sensors work in complex systems is a challenge for even the best designers who can use the most advanced tests to calibrate their devices. "Analog Devices leverages many of its proprietary test capabilities to perform critical IMU calibration and compensation in the factory, reducing system development time by up to 12 months and potentially saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in test equipment costs."

     The ADIS16355 inertial measurement unit combines 3-axis angular velocity sensing with 3-axis acceleration sensing to provide 6-degree of freedom motion sensing, embedded calibration and sensor processing, and senor-to-sensor cross compensation, with greatly improved signal stability (0.015 deg/sec using offset stability), and a volume of less than 1 cubic inch. Factory calibration and embedded shaft cross-alignment compensation allow designers to quickly and cost-effectively integrate motion-sensing technology without sensor skills, adding a whole new level of performance to their applications.

     Both the ADIS16355 and ADIS16350 have built-in programmable serial Peripheral interface (SPI) ports for easy access to programming features such as filtering, sampling rate, power management, self-testing, and sensor status and alarms. Both products are fully in-system tunable, allowing designers to quickly and easily debug the system and experiment with different configurations for design optimization. The ADIS16355 offers excellent accuracy and stable sensor response, while the ADIS16350 offers a lower cost solution for less sensitive applications.