Bosch unveils ultra-low-power IMU for wearables

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

Bosch Sensortec extends its BMI260 family of inertial measurement units (IMUs) with the launch of the BMI270 ultra-low-power smart IMU for wearable applications. Unveiled at CES 2019, the new IMU delivers an improved accelerometer offset and sensitivity performance thanks to Bosch’s newest MEMS process technology.

Featuring an automotive-proven gyroscope technology, the BMI270 provides intuitive gesture, context, and activity recognition with an integrated plug-and-play step counter, which is optimized for accurate step counting in wrist-worn devices, said Bosch Sensortec. Other applications include hearables, smart clothes, smart shoes, smart glasses, and ankle bands.

The BMI270 extends system battery life by handling multiple activity tracking, step counting, and gesture-recognition functions independently of the main system processor without having to wake it up. A few examples of these functions include sending an interrupt when a certain number of steps is reached or geofencing to activate GPS when the user stands up and starts walking.

This means that gesture and activity recognition features operate in ultra-low-power mode, with current consumption of only 30 μA, resulting in extended battery charging intervals for the user.

The smart IMU is available in two application-specific versions: gesture and context/activity. The “gesture” version detects gestures including flick in/out, arm up/down, and wrist tilt and is compliant with Wear OS by Google. The “context and activity” version offers advanced features for recognizing context activity and activity change, such as standing, walking, or being in a vehicle.

The BMI270 also features Bosch’s motionless Component Retrimming (CRT) feature, which provides built-in gyroscope self-calibration without a rotation stimulus. The company said that this reduces time and costs during testing and manufacturing, while the embedded plug-and-play features cut time to market.

The BMI270, housed in a 2.5 × 3.0 × 0.8-mm³ footprint, is pin-to-pin compatible with the BMI160, BMI260, BMI261, and BMI263. The IMU will be available in the second quarter of 2019.