From smartphone to intelligent personal assistant

Continuous context sensing enables smartphones and other applications to respond instantly and intelligently to the user’s needs, but demands ultra-low-power sensors to maximise battery life. The LSM6DSL and LSM6DSM, with innovative power management, enhanced gyroscope design, and energy-efficient data batching, cut power consumption by as much as 50% over the current state-of-the-art LSM6DS3 and LSM6DS3H devices. Compliance with the most popular and innovative operating systems helps developers maximise the value of the personalisation and power-saving features of popular mobile platforms.

In addition, the latest sensors boost gyroscope accuracy to support enhanced user experiences such as Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS), visual localisation detection, and gesture recognition, while the accelerometer-driven step detection, step counting and pedometer, as well as tilt and significant-motion detection are also integrated to make life easier for handset and application developers.

Of the two new modules, the LSM6DSM has a dedicated additional processing and serial port for camera OIS. The gyroscope has 40% lower noise and a configurable filter that together boost camera-OIS performance from the current-gen device (LSM6DS3H). Compared to solutions that use a discrete OIS sensor, the LSM6DSM not only saves component count and board space, but consumes less than 1/6 the power of the alternative designs.

Andrea Onetti, Group Vice President and General Manager, Volume MEMS and Analog Division, STMicroelectronics, commented: “We have shipped over 100m units of our current generation of MEMS inertial modules to customers who include leading smartphone and consumer brands. The new-generation products build on this success, with energy efficiency that delivers up to 50% more performance. The new modules’ high accuracy and integration will also help designers develop more advanced user experiences in devices such as digital cameras, wearables and remote controls, game consoles, drones and virtual reality.”

The devices will be available from Q2 2016, as 14-lead LGA modules that are pin-and-footprint compatible with the LSM6DS3/H. Prices are $1.99 each for the LSM6DSL and $2.50 each for the LSM6DSM with dedicated OIS output, both in 1,000 unit quantities.