SensorDynamics intros robust 2- and 3-axis angular rate sensors

GRAZ, AUSTRIA: SensorDynamics, a producer of inertial and wireless semiconductor products, has launched its new SD742 and SD740 MEMS gyroscopes.

The SD742 adds an XY angular rate and the SD740 an XYZ angular rate device to the firm’s line of 6x6x1.8 mm3 QFN40-packaged sensors. In addition to having two or three analog outputs, it comes with I²C and SPI digital interfaces, along with a wide measurement range of up to ±4096°/s. These features make for a high degree of flexibility with respect to its applications. SD742 and SD740 are temperature-compensated and factory calibrated to minimize offset error and temperature drift.

Sensor features
The SD742 and SD740 are designed for an operating voltage of 2.6 through 3.3 V and an operating temperature range of -40 through +85°C. Their maximum offset error is 10°/s at room temperature, while their sensitivity error at room temperature and temperature drift of sensitivity is maximal 5 percent. Those parameters can be improved by a factor of 2 upon special customer request.

The two digital interfaces provide a full scale standard measurement range of ±1024°/s., which can be customized up to ±4096°/s. The internal updating of measured values is provided at a high rate of at least 10 kHz. The ratio metric analog outputs can be configured for ±64, ±128, ±256 or ±512°/s measurement ranges. The SD742 and SD740 devices also feature a special power-off mode in which no power is consumed, but the SPI interface remains high-impedance so that the sensor need not be removed from the bus.

Applications
Its low power consumption and small but robust QFN package (6x6x1.8 mm³) makes the SD742/SD740 suitable for medtech applications as well as instrumentation and control purposes in the industry, such as robot control and navigation. The sensors feature a continuously operating self-test that monitors the functional capability of the two or three dimensional angular rate sensor element without interrupting measurements.

The 2D gyroscope SD742 is available now and the 3D gyroscope SD740 will be available in December.