Industry's thinnest full-functional tri-axis accelerometers

Rohm's Kionix group has announced the industry's first ultra-thin full-functional tri-axis accelerometers, the KX112 (2mm x 2mm x 0.6mm) and KXCJB (3mm x 3mm x 0.45mm), which are especially suitable for mobile, wearable, health / medical and light-industrial applications. "Among the many innovations and numerous firsts in the company's history, Kionix was first to develop the tri-axis accelerometer in 2004, followed by introduction of the first 'thin' 0.7mm tri-axis accelerometer in 2013," said Nader Sadrzadeh, President and CEO, Kionix. "We're constantly pushing physical and technological barriers. Our proprietary technology has allowed us to break boundaries once again to introduce a new lineup of full-featured 'ultra-thin' low-power accelerometers. While these initial products (the KX112 and KXCJB) are suited primarily for mobile, PC/tablet and wearable applications, we continue to expand the portfolio to include automotive and heavy-duty industrial applications." The KX112 is part of Kionix's flagship family of tri-axis accelerometers. It is the thinnest 2x2 accelerometer available, making it particularly well-suited for the compact designs required in the health, medical and wearable markets. Remarkably, in addition to its ultra-thin compact design, it is one of the most full-featured accelerometers available. With 16-bits of resolution and excellent stability, it features built-in digital algorithms for detecting motion for power management, free fall for device protection or warranty monitoring, an orientation engine for portrait/landscape detection, and tap/double-tap for user interface functionality. It also incorporates Kionix'sFlexSet technology, allowing fine granularity for balancing power and performance. Most notably, the KX112 has the largest FIFO/FILO buffer available on a mass-produced accelerometer. With 2048 bytes available, the rest of the system can sleep while it's recording more data than any other accelerometer on the market, enabling superior power-savings and event context. The KXCJB is the thinnest accelerometer available in any footprint, measuring just 3mm x 3mm x 0.45mm thick. It supports the drive for thinner smartphones, tablets, PCs and hard disk drives as well as compact wearables such as activity monitors and smartwatches. The unique form-factor is half the thickness of most accelerometers on the market. This brings the ability to embed motion detection and motion sensing capabilities into a host of new devices such as badges, access cards, and payment/smart cards, while also opening up possibilities of maintaining low profiles when mounting on or in glass, plastic and other thin structures, says the company.