Two-wire interface reference accelerometer with integrated mechanical transducing and self-calibration capability

Abstract

A two-wire reference accelerometer includes integrated mechanical transducing and self-calibration capability based on gravity only. The reference accelerometer includes an external two-wire connector and an internal three-wire transducer that responds to both steady-state acceleration and time-varying accelerations by producing a modulated transducer output signal having a steady-state waveform when the transducer senses steady state acceleration and a time-varying waveform when the transducer senses time-varying accelerations. A signal conditioning circuit conditions the transducer output signal and applies it to the two-wire electrical connector as a modulated reference accelerometer output signal. The transducer and the signal conditioning circuit can operate without modification in either a DUT calibration mode or a self-calibration mode. The self-calibration mode determines the 1 g output sensitivity of the reference accelerometer from first and second readings of the reference accelerometer output signal taken while the reference accelerometer rests on a non-accelerating surface in respective non-inverted and inverted orientations.