Nov 7 2014
Expanding its portfolio of the world’s smallest MEMS motion sensors, mCube today announced the availability of its third generation electronic compass (eCompass) and second generation iGyro™ motion sensors.
Ideally suited for wearables, gaming devices, tablets and smart phones, the new MC6470 eCompass and MC7030 iGyro inertial motion sensors are more than 50 percent smaller than previous generations, while delivering the industry’s best performance and lowest power consumption.
“With more than 70 million accelerometers shipped to date, mCube is committed to providing leading-edge technology solutions to the MEMS motion sensor market,” said Ben Lee, president and CEO, mCube, Inc. “With these two new products, we now offer the world’s smallest, lowest power consumption eCompass and iGyro sensors, enabling our customers to build smaller and more efficient products, with better performance than previously possible.”
About the MC6470 and MC7030 Sensors
The MC6470 and MC7030 solutions are sampling today in an industry-leading 2x2x0.95mm packaging, 50 percent smaller than previous mCube generations. The new MC6470 eCompass solution combines a high precision magnetic sensor with mCube’s third generation single-chip MEMS accelerometer into a 6DoF (6 Degrees of Freedom) eCompass.
The MC7030 iGyro, combining a 9DoF (9 Degrees of Freedom) accelerometer, magnetometer and rotational sensor solution, features the industry’s first software-based gyroscope optimized for Android™ smartphones and tablets. The product enables “virtual” gyroscope functionality on all mobile devices, delivering immersive, 9DoF motion gaming and augmented reality experiences to phone and tablet users. At the same time, the solution cuts power, cost and board space in half, compared to hardware-based discrete solutions found in all high-end phones today.
In addition, with the introduction of the MC6470 and MC7030, mCube is now able to provide its customers the convenience of footprint compatibility for 3DoF, 6DoF and 9DoF sensors in a 2x2mm package. These two new sensors, together with the MC34xx family of accelerometers, allow manufacturers the flexibility to provide three tiers of products with only a single PCB design, reducing inventory management efforts.
The new mCube eCompass and iGyro products are optimized for applications requiring high precision directional sensing, including map orientation, virtual reality data overlay, enhanced navigation with dead reckoning assistance, and hardware gyroscope replacement. Both the MC6470 and MC7030 provide standard accelerometer and magnetometer features, such as a motion enabled user interface, gesture recognition and gaming control. Together with mCube’s eMotion™ software, these products ease the integration of compass and rotational sensing functionality into the end product, providing tilt-compensated heading calculations, hard- and soft-iron calibration, and World Magnetic Model (WMM) compensation.
Small Size, Low Power Operation
The MC6470 and MC7030 solutions are ideal for the tablet, gaming and smartphone markets. In addition, due to their industry-leading small size, these devices are expected to be popular in the burgeoning next generation wearables market, where critical design requirements include small size and low power consumption. While in the past, designers had to choose between prolonged battery life or maintaining features and small size, the MC6470 and MC7030 maintains excellent battery life in an industry leading small package.
To achieve the world’s smallest MEMS design, the new eCompass and iGyro sensors leverage mCube’s proven monolithic single-chip MEMS design approach. This allows mCube to deliver leading edge, very small, single-chip MEMS+ASIC devices smaller than a grain of sand, consuming low power, featuring very high performance, all while remaining cost effective. These advancements make it possible to place one or more motion sensors onto nearly any object or device that moves. In some cases, the single-chip MEMS motion sensor silicon can be attached directly onto a printed circuit board without requiring chip packaging, saving real estate and reducing height to enable thinner and smaller system designs.