Extracted from the publication of R. Colin Johnson on EETime website 8 November 2012
Sensing "tilt" in old style pinball machines used a mechanical ball-in-tube sensor, but the micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) version should harness a tri-axis accelerometer, according to Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
At the MEMS Executive Congress 2012 here Wednesday (Nov. 7), Freescale rolled out a tilt sensor - Xtrinsic MMA8491Q - that the company says could be used for a modern version of tilt-detection in pinball. But the target application for the device is preventing tampering in smart meters.
"With our new tilt sensor, Freescale is addressing the need to prevent smart-meter tampering with a simple to use, cost effective and extremely low-power three-axis accelerometer with a dedicated embedded state-machine," said Jennette Wilson, product line manager for sensors at Freescale.
Freescale's three-axis accelerometer optimized for sensing tilt can be used to prevent tampering with stationary smart meters.
Freescale's addition of a state machine for detecting tilts enables any smart meter to sense when someone is tampering with it and send an alarm to the utility company. The specialized tilt-detecting MEMS sensor with programmable thresholds can also be used for other applications—from sensing unbalanced washing machine loads to turning off a hand-iron that has fallen over to eHealth monitors that notify caregivers when a patient has fallen down.
For battery-powered applications, the MMA8491Q consumes just 400 nanoAmps per hertz (10 nanoAmps in standby). It also sports 65-millimeter pitch leads for easy visual inspection, despite the fact that it is housed in a tiny 3-by-3-by-1-millimeter package.
Freescale provides a sensor-toolbox kit for easy prototyping, reference designs optimized for any spot on the globe, and applications notes that flesh-out the most common usage models worldwide. The MMA8491Q is also a part of Freescale's product longevity program that guarantees that it will supply the part for 10 years.
Read the complete entry from R. Colin Johnson on EETime website
If you are interested in evaluating this MEMs, its corresponding demo board, DEMOMMA8491DEMOMMA8491, is already available at Farnell