INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODELLING AND SIMULATION IN ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ICMSET-2014, 15-16

FEBRUARY, 2014

Application of MEMS Accelerometer To

Consumer Electronics
1 2
Sanjib Kalita, J.N. Borole
1 2
M.E. Student (VLSI & Embedded System Design), Assistant Professor Dept of Electronics & Telecommunication Godavari
College of Engineering, Jalgaon
Emails: sanjib.kalita25@gmail.com 1, jnborole@gmail.com 2

Abstract-- MEMS Accelerometer is the one of the emerging

development in which the mechanical and electrical parts are
integrated. In this paper some recent applications of MEMS
Accelerometer in consumer electronics have been discussed.
Finally some approximate ideas of uses of MEMS Accelerometer
in consumer electronics are also discussed.
Index Terms-- Consumer Electronics, MEMS Accelerometer.

I. INTRODUCTION

M EMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) is an

emerging process to create integrated devices which
includes mechanical and electrical parts. Now a day one
of the MEMS device which is useful in consumer electronics
is MEMS Accelerometer. It is known that Accelerometer can
measure the acceleration force. Due to the bulky nature of
accelerometer, it is necessary to develop some smaller
accelerometer which can be used in various applications. In
1979, the 1st micro machined accelerometer was designed at
Stanford University [1]. Later in 1990 vehicle Air Bag was
developed by using MEMS Accelerometer by the various
automotive industries [2]. Many recent electronics devices
such as Laptops, PDAs, Mobiles etc uses the MEMS
Accelerometer for various applications. Still many research
works are going on for the various consumer applications
using MEMS Accelerometer.
II. MEMS ACCELEROMETER
MEMS Accelerometer is an integrated device which
can measure acceleration force, shock and gravity. It has
been found that MEMS Accelerometer can be of various
types. Such as, capacitive, electromagnetic, piezoelectric,
ferroelectric, optical etc. Out of these, capacitive MEMS
accelerometer is the most successful type [3]. Capacitive
MEMS is based on the basic concept of capacitor. The
capacitive MEMS have better sensitivity than others. Figure 1
shows the concept of capacitive MEMS Accelerometer [4].
Figure-1: MEMS Accelerometer structure [4].
In this figure d1 and d2 are the distance between the fixed
plates and the moving plates. It has been known that the
parallel plate capacitances neglecting the fringing effect near
the edges is [5],
Where, ϵ0ϵA = ϵA, and A, d represents the area of the
electrode and distance between the electrodes respectively. So
as the acceleration applied the capacitance between the plates
changes since the values of d1 and d2 varies. The change of
capacitance can detect the direction of applied acceleration. It
has been found that Beliveau, A. et.al has discussed the
evaluation of MEMS accelerometer [6]. Recently the design
of capacitive based MEMS Accelerometer has been discussed
by Sethuramalingam, T.K. et.al [7]. Sethuramalingam, T.K.
also discussed the several attractive features of MEMS
accelerometer. Many companies such as Analog Devices,
STMicroelectronics etc. develop MEMS Accelerometer of
different sensitivity levels.
III. APPLICATION TO CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
It has been already discussed that MEMS accelerometer
was used for vehicle Air Bags which makes the car ride safer.
Many applications such as image rotation of cell phones,
image stabilization of digital still cameras, free fall detection
of laptops etc are possible due to the MEMS
Accelerometer [8]. Free fall detection is one of the major
specifications of electronics devices. With this

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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODELLING AND SIMULATION IN ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ICMSET-2014, 15-16
FEBRUARY, 2014
specification the device can detect the free fall and take
necessary steps before it touches the ground. It has been
found that Stoev, J. et.al gave some idea on free fall
detection algorithm for hard disk drives [9].
In 2010 Jantaraprim, P.et.al has discussed the idea to
improve the accuracy of free fall detection using free fall
characteristics [10]. Recently, Tiwari, R. et.al. introduced the
android platform for free fall detection [11].
Same free fall detection technique can be used for
mobile human airbag system. Guangyi Shi et.al has designed
the system using MEMS Accelerometer [12]. This system is
basically for the elderly people.
Fong, D.T.W et.al. has designed wireless motion sensing
for the sports science application using MEMS
Accelerometer [13]. This system gives the real time
information of the human motion from which we can
get the 3D simulation of the motion easily.
MEMS Accelerometer can also be used in detecting the
seismic waves. It has been reported that Rohmanuddin, M.
et.al. has designed a seismic sensor using MEMS
accelerometer [14]. In 2009 Horiuchi, S. et.al introduced
MEMS Sensors for home seismometer to detect the
earthquake and give early warning. [15]. Recently Huayin
Zheng et.al also designed some home based wireless
earthquake early warning system using MEMS
Accelerometer. In this system author used MMA7260Q
MEMS Accelerometer, which has the range of ± 1.5g
[16]. Recently Apple Smart Phones also have used MEMS
Accelerometer to detect the earthquake.
IV. GRAPH ON APPLICATION OF MEMS
ACCELEROMETER
As we have discussed earlier the MEMS Accelerometer has
various applications in consumer electronics. The following
graph [Figure-2] is an approximate idea of research
done in consumer electronics during the year 2003 to 2013,
only where the application of MEMS Accelerometer have
been found. Here the x-axis represents the years and the y-
axis represents the published research works.
Figure-2: Line Graph on approximate idea of research in consumer
electronics using MEMS Accelerometer.
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V. CONCLUSION
Through the above article some ideas of application of
MEMS accelerometer in Consumer Electronics is studied
during the year 2003-2013. This study shows that, the
instantaneous research on MEMS Accelerometer in consumer
electronics compared to others is found to be less. It needs
further research on this topic.
ACKNOLEDGEMENT:
I am grateful to Dr. K.P. Rane, HOD, Department of
Electronics & Telecommunication, Godavari College of
Engineering, Jalgaon (Maharashtra) for encouraging to
prepare this paper. I am also thankful to Dr. Bichitra kalita,
HOD, Department of Computer Application, Assam
Engineering College, Guwahati (Assam) for valuable
suggestions for completing the paper.
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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODELLING AND SIMULATION IN ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ICMSET-2014, 15-16
FEBRUARY, 2014

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