Seiko Epson today announced the commercial development of a new inertial measurement unit (IMU) named the S4E5A0A0. The new IMU provides stable, accurate measurement capability and among the lowest power consumption and smallest form factor in its class. IMUs are devices that can accurately sense inertial motion, from slight inclinations to large movements. The S4E5A0A0 is suited to industrial applications in areas such as inertial motion analysis and control, motional analysis and control, moving object control, vibration control and stabilization, and navigation systems. The smaller, lighter, lower-power IMU gives designers of these applications greater design flexibility and allows these Epson IMUs to be embedded in industrial products where this was once not an option.
The IMU includes triple gyroscopes and a tri-axis accelerometer, for six degrees of freedom. The gyroscope provides high accuracy and stability (±300 deg/s), while the accelerometer offers a dynamic range of ±3 G. The device is also equipped with industry-standard SPI and UART interfaces. Epson will begin shipping samples in July 2011.