Tri-axial MEMS gyroscopes and Six Degree-Of-Freedom Motion Sensors

Only six years passed since the dawn of the Motion Sensors Era in the Consumer market and now the world of MEMS Motion Sensors is completely different. Till end of first Half of 2010, when STMicroelectronics did a bold step in the production of MEMS gyroscopes, accelerometers were the most pervasive motion sensor, but today also gyroscopes are widely spread in the consumer market and known to the wide public. Combinations of these two inertial products, also known as Six Degree-Of-Freedom Motion Sensors, are starting to appear in the market and most likely they will coexist with standalone accelerometers and gyroscopes, depending on customer needs in terms of compactness and performances. This paper reports the details of an innovative tri-axis silicon MEMS vibratory gyroscope that fulfills the pressing market requirements for low power consumption, small size, slim requirements, high performances and low cost, and it addresses also the recent trends of the Six Degree-Of-Freedom Combos. More intuitive user interface has been the key application driving the adoption of the Motion Sensors in the Mobile Phones and Remote Controllers, Personal Computers and Tablets, Games and Portable Multimedia Players. Image Stabilization, Context Awareness, Location Based Services and Remote Monitoring are the new emerging applications that will continue to drive the adoption of Motion Sensors in the market segments mentioned above as well in new ones, still unknown to most of the people.