Freescale Semiconductor,inc.

Rohm Co., Ltd.

Nxp Usa, Inc.

Kionix, Inc.

Richard A Deken

Aaron A Geisberger

Bruno J Debeurre

Raimondo P Sessego

Tehmoor M Dar

Krithivasan Suryanarayanan

Yo Yamashiro

Brian Thomas Samuelson

Accelerometers are described herein that have RMS outputs. For instance, an example accelerometer may include a MEMS device and an ASIC. The MEMS device includes a structure having an attribute that changes in response to acceleration of an object. The ASIC determines acceleration of the object based at least in part on changes in the attribute. The ASIC includes analog circuitry, an ADC, and firmware. The analog circuitry measures the changes in the attribute and generates analog signals that represent the changes. The ADC converts the analog signals to digital signals. The firmware includes RMS firmware. The RMS firmware performs an RMS calculation on a representation of the digital signals to provide an RMS value that represents an amount of the acceleration of the object.

Accelerometer having a root-mean-square (RMS) output

A sensor system includes a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor, processing circuitry, measurement circuitry, stimulus circuitry and memory. The system is configured to provide an output responsive to physical displacement within the MEMS sensor to the measurement circuitry. The stimulus circuitry is configured to provide a stimulus signal to the MEMS sensor to cause a physical displacement within the MEMS sensor. The measurement circuitry is configured to process the output from the MEMS sensor and provide it to the processing circuitry, which is configured to generate stimulus signals and provide them to the stimulus circuitry for provision to the MEMS sensor. Output from the measurement circuitry corresponding to the physical displacement occurring in the MEMS sensor is monitored and used to calculate MEMS sensor characteristics. Methods for monitoring and calibrating MEMS sensors are also provided.

Compensation and calibration for MEMS devices

A system and method () for producing a reference signal is provided. The method includes supplying () a first current to a diode, sampling () a first voltage across the diode, supplying () a second current to the diode, sampling () a second voltage across the diode, converting () the first voltage and the second voltage to a first digital value and a second digital value, and determining () a digital reference value from the first digital value and the second digital value. The first voltage is based on the first current, and the second voltage is based on the second current.

Digital bandgap reference and method for producing reference signal

Growing community of inventors

Madison, MS, United States of America

Richard A Deken