Low power IMU has intuitive activity, context and gesture recognition
Adding to its BMI260 family of inertial measurement units (IMUs), Bosch launches the BM1270 at CES 2019 (booth 14020) this week.
It is optimised for wearable and hearable applications and is available with context and activity recognition or gesture recognition.
The smart IMU is designed for wearable applications, with an improved accelerometer offset and sensitivity performance, enabled by Bosch’s latest MEMS process technology.
The BMI270 includes intuitive gesture, context and activity recognition with an integrated plug-and-play step counter, which is specially optimised for accurate step counting in wrist-worn devices. The IMU is also suitable for other types of wearable devices, such as hearables, smart clothes, smart shoes, smart glasses and ankle bands.
The low power IMU extends system battery life by handling multiple activity tracking, step counting and gesture recognition functions independently of the main system processor, without having to wake up the device. These functions, for example, sending an interrupt when a certain number of steps is reached, or geofencing to activate GPS when the user stands up and starts walking, are processor-independent.
Gesture and activity recognition features run in the low power domain; current consumption is just 30 microA. According to Bosch, this noticeably reduces power consumption and extends battery charging intervals.
There are two application-specific versions available. The gesture version detects gestures including flick in/out, arm up/down, and wrist tilt. This version is compliant with Wear OS by Google. The context and activity version has advanced features for recognising context activity and activity change, for example standing, walking or being in a vehicle.
The BMI270 combines the automotive-proven gyroscope technology with a significantly improved accelerometer. The sensor includes a 2kbyte FIFO.
Bosch’s motionless Component Retrimming (CRT) feature provides built-in gyroscope self-calibration without a rotation stimulus, which saves OEMs time and money during testing and manufacturing.
The BMI270 measures only 2.5 x 3.0 x 0.8 mm3, and is pin-to-pin compatible with the BMI160, BMI260, BMI261 and BMI263. It will be available for distribution in the second quarter 2019.
