A system level model in VHDL-AMS for a micromechanic vibration sensor array

A new capacitive vibration sensor using an array of laterally moving mass-spring systems is being developed at Chemnitz University of Technology. The sensor operation is based on narrow-band resonance of the mass-spring elements. The natural frequency of each element can be tuned electrically. The sensor is intended for application in wear state recognition on highly stressed machine components. The paper focuses on high abstraction level CAD modeling of the sensor array. A new design approach, efficient choice of physical domains, resulting problems and their solutions are shown in connection with the design of both sensor and analog signal processing models.