STMicroelectronics' 3-axis MEMS gyroscope gives a new level of control to your mobile
By Darren Murph 
posted Nov 16th 2009 9:32AM
posted Nov 16th 2009 9:32AM
Man, talk about timely. We heard right around 11 months ago that MEMS gyroscopes would be hitting an array of handsets in 2009, and while it's looking like that estimate will be just a touch off, you won't catch up kvetching with "early 2010." STMicroelectronics has just announced its new 3-axis MEMS gyroscope, which promises 360 degree "angular-rate detection for high-precision 3D gesture and motion recognition in mobile phones, game controllers, personal navigation systems and other portable devices." The gyro is said to provide two separate outputs for each of the three axes at the same time: a 400dps full-scale value for slow motion, and a 1,600dps full-scale value to detect and measure speedy gestures and movements. We're told that samples of the tech are available now with mass production scheduled for Q1 2010; and yeah PSP, it's totally cool if you keep sweating. NGage is about to be back... with a vengeance!
This is a great development for mobile phones and media players, and a further nail in the quickly-constructing coffin of standalone portable video games.
It's hard to imagine that iPhones and iPod Touches, Android devices, and WebOS devices won't have these built in a year from now; combined with the continued evolutionary progress of mobile 3D chipsets, mobile device gaming should see consistent and steady improvement.
1st to Reply to the 1st comment!
Why do you think this can't go into the next DS/PSP? And why for media players?
I guess I'm missing something here. Why would this be a killer for the PSP and the like? This seems like the next-gen of accelerometers, but how does that compete with what portable game devices have?
@d00b, @CtrlBurn: A handheld console could use one of these gyroscopes, but I think we can be pretty sure that none will any time soon.
First: consoles tend to be much more conservative about their hardware, because nobody wants to try to market a game for The PSP That Was Released In June 2009 And Discontinued In January 2010. Sony might well add this gyroscope to the PSP's successor, but not to an incremental update like the PSP Go Away.
Second: even the incremental updates don't come out very often in the console world. Even if Sony decides to add a gyroscope to the next minor rev of the PSP, it probably won't come out until 2012 or so. In that time, *dozens* of smartphones will be released.
No reason at all this chip couldn't go into the next-gen portable consoles; I expect it will. But the feature differentiation between portable consoles and smartphones/media players continues to shrink, and for many people, carrying two devices will be redundant, especially if there are great games for the smartphones.
Gets in quick and makes wrist straps for mobile phones!
WiiMobiles anyone?
The much wimpier cousin of the Batmobile.
Invensense beat STMicro to the punch about 3 weeks ago: http://invensense.com/products/itg_3200.html.
Seems like a healthy competition is building; this has got to be good for the industry.
ITG 3200's general availability is going to be in the Q3 2010 timeframe.
This is what inside sales manager of invensense wrote to me in an e-mail. So ST wins in time domain :p
1600 dps? That's degrees per second? 1600dps=267rpm. Slap one of those on your hubcap and it can tell your speed up to about 20mph.
Gyro is a great toy ! I like to see phones on 1 wheel and following you at home :) It may be a school project :)
All the easier for that backyard cruise missile project you've been planning