Bosch Sensortec has introduced a low-power, smart inertial measurement unit (IMU) targeted at next-generation wearables such as smartwatches, hearables, smart shoes, smart glasses and ankle bands.
The BMI270 will be unveiled this week at CES 2019, taking place in Las Vegas on Jan. 8-11. It includes gesture, context and activity recognition with an integrated plug-and-play step counter. The IMU is based on Bosch’s latest micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) process technology and combines a gyroscope with an accelerometer.
“Smartwatches is a nicely growing market and at the same time hearables are becoming a hotter, driven by mobile phone OEMs that see it has an additional way to sell accessories,” Peter Ostertag, director of micromirror technology at Bosch, told Electronics360. “These devices require low power in a small form factor and that’s something that the BMI270 enables.”
The smart IMU is available in two application-specific versions: a gesture version that detects gesture such as flick in/out, arm up/down and wrist tilt, and a context and activity version that recognizes context activity and activity change such as standing, walking or being in a vehicle.
The BMI160 will be available for distribution in the second quarter of this year.