TDK Corporation announced the release of Tronics AXO315, a miniature high performance 1-axis closed-loop MEMS accelerometer with a 24-bit digital SPI interface and SMD package. The Grenoble, France-based company cites advantages including reaching quartz sensors performances, outperforming commercial MEMS sensors and ease of integration. Customer sampling is underway, and full distribution is scheduled by mid-year.

The new force-rebalance accelerometer delivers a one-year composite bias repeatability of 1 mg and composite scale factor repeatability of 600 ppm under severe temperature and vibration conditions common in industrial, land, railway, naval and construction applications. Its characteristics enable significant reduction in size, weight and cost of materials for industrial motion control units, Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) and Inertial Navigation Systems (INS).

AXO315 is a ±14 grange, in-plane linear accelerometer. It has been designed and developed to provide high precision and reliability in challenging environments. It achieves a 1 mg composite bias repeatability over one year at temperatures ranging from -55 ° C to +105 ° C, and 4 g vibrations with an outstanding vibration rejection. Performance is augmented by its Allan variance characteristics, with a bias instability of 4 µg,a velocity random walk of 0.006 m/s/√h, and very low noise of 15 μg/√Hz, thus enabling high resolution and low error.

The new AXO315’s performance is said to be equivalent to the incumbent analog quartz accelerometers and mechanical inclinometers, but at a fraction of their size, weight and price. TDK Corporation notes that they remain free from dual-use export control according to Annex 1 of Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009. TKD claims that AXO315 exhibits higher performance levels than any current commercially available MEMS sensors components and delivers an 80% gain in temperature stability compared to Tronics’ previous accelerometer generation AXO215. The new accelerometer complements the existing lineup of Tronics’ high performance GYPRO digital gyros for high-performance IMUs and INS. It comes in a lightweight 1.4 g hermetic SMD J-lead ceramic package (12 x 12 x 5 mm), enabling low-cost assembly and reliability on PCB, even in fast-changing temperature conditions.

With its performance and robustness, AXO315 is a relevant sensor for applications requiring high accuracy and stability in demanding environments, such as servo inclinometers and dynamic inclinometers in industrial motion control units, IMUs and INS for GNSS-aided positioning, and navigation of manned and unmanned ground vehicles and trains.

The AXO315 accelerometers are manufactured, tested and calibrated at Tronics Microsystems’ facility in France. Pre-production and customer sampling have begun. Evaluation of the sensors can also be made through an Arduino-based evaluation kit that is specifically designed to provide developers with improved testing functionalities such as output reading and recording, recalibration and digital self-tests. Full production of the sensors and availability through its network of distributors are scheduled for summer 2021. 

Photo courtesy of TDK Corporation.