Freescale unveils low-power accelerometer

The three-axis MMA7660FC accelerometer enhances user interfaces for mobile phones, small appliances and gaming by allowing the user to tap, shake or orient the device for specified commands.

The device also includes smart power management features to help extend battery life.

Motion sensing is helping drive market growth for mobile messaging, browsing and overall data usage.

Freescale's accelerometer integrates a number of smart motion features such as orientation, shake and tap detection with auto wake-up/sleep detection in a 3mm x 3mm x 0.9mm package.

The MMA7660FC can be configured with custom portrait/landscape trip points for six orientations: left, right, up, down, back and front.

In addition to precise hand movement control, the MMA7660FC communicates directly with the main system processor through an I2C interface for communication simplicity and flexibility.

The MMA7660FC accelerometer is designed to achieve up to five times longer battery life than current solutions on the market when continuously operating to determine motion.

Configurable power-saving modes and a power-select capability helps designers achieve optimal current consumption by choosing one of eight sample rates.

System-level power is reduced through an automatic configurable wake-up/sleep feature without intervention or polling by the host processor.

The MMA7660FC accelerometer provides conversion to digital values at a user-configurable output data rate, offering proportional savings in supply current and power.

Key applications for the MMA7660FC accelerometer include portable consumer devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and digital cameras.

Additional applications include shock detection and motion control in PCs and peripherals, activity monitoring in medical and sports applications, and orientation and freefall detection in gaming and toys.