Intelligent Digital 3-Axis IMU for Automotive and Robotic Applications

The intelligent digital 3-axis IMU system integrated with the MEMS sensing cores, the signal processing electronics, and the network interface is presented. The MEMS sensing cores are fabricated by using the SBM (Sacrificial Bulk Micromachining) process. The fabricated sensing core accomplishes the high performance, high yield and high reliability by the inherent high-aspect-ratio, footing-free advantages of the SBM process. The accelerometer channel of the system has the resolution of 50 μg, input range of over 10 g, nonlinearity of 0.37 %FSO, and 4-hr bias stability of 1.1 mg. The gyroscope channel of the system has the resolution of 0.027 deg/s, input range of over 70 deg/s, nonlinearity of 0.1 %FSO, and 1-hr bias stability of 2.6 deg/min. The system provides the digital output compatible with serial interface, thus the system can achieve reduced setup cost, reduced signal conditioning efforts, improved system reliability, improved network connectivity, and advanced functionalities.