Bosch Sensortec adds MCU to MEMS for Android smartphones
The devices implement the full Android Lollipop sensor stack with lowest power sensor and sensor hub combination, reducing power consumption by up to 95 % for always-on applications in mobile devices by handling sensor processing and data batching. Functionality can be extended through externally attached sensors and new software features
BHI160 and BHA250 offload sensor processing from an application processor, as well as buffering sensor data locally on the devices; system designers can ensure the main application processor is never woken up just to process sensor data. This significantly reduces system power consumption, and thus extends battery life.
The new devices integrate a 3- or 6-axis MEMS sensor with the Bosch Sensortec DSP “Fuser Core”. The BHI160 and BHA250 are specifically designed for applications in Android smart phones – implementing the full Android Lollipop sensor stack inside the devices where they provide a flexible, low power solution for motion sensing and sensor data processing. The devices can be updated with new software features to support future releases. The BHI160 is the industry’s lowest-power solution that is fully compatible with Lollipop, using less than 1.55 mA for a complete 9-axis solution including the Fuser Core, the integrated accelerometer and gyroscope and an external magnetometer.
The Fuser Core is a 32-bit microcontroller that is optimised to execute Bosch Sensortec’s sensor fusion and activity-recognition algorithms with ultra-low power consumption. It uses significantly less power than standard microcontrollers, with a saving of up to 95% compared to Cortex M0 and up to 90% compared to Cortex M4 based devices.
The BHI160 and BHA250 both offer identical functionality except that the BHI160 integrates a 6-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU), consisting of a 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis accelerometer, while the BHA250 omits the gyroscope. This makes it a smaller and lower-cost device, and gives OEMs the flexibility to use it in eCompass applications where a gyroscope is not required.
The BHI160 is available in a 3.0 x 3.0 x 0.95 mm LGA package, while the BHA250 is provided in a 2.2 x 2.2 x 0.95 mm LGA package. These packages are the same size as competitive sensor-only devices without an integrated DSP. Integrating the sensor hub reduces the bill of material, and saves on valuable PCB space compared to solutions based on standard MCUs.
Both new devices are fully pin- and footprint-compatible with Bosch’s sensor-only variants from Bosch Sensortec, giving OEMs the flexibility to support multiple different smart phone devices on one platform, and to make decisions later in the design cycle.
Bosch Sensortec; www.bosch-sensortec.com
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