Freescale unleashes new sensor tech

networking and power-management technologies that provide more features and improve performance from prior generations, writes The Wall Street Journal.

The company, which reiterated its second-quarter guidance, hosted its analyst meeting as part of the forum and plans to unveil new chips for its various markets in order to address growing demand.

“The reality is we're an innovation engine,” Henri Richard, Freescale senior VP and chief sales and marketing officer, said in an interview.

“These products are important because they're an improvement relative to the prior generation, but they're by no means the only things happening at Freescale at the forum or this year.”

EE Times reports that Freescale's Xtrinsic pressure sensor uses a proprietary piezoresistive MEMS process to achieve high-accuracy and low-power operation at a price affordable for mobile consumer device makers, the company claims.

Smart algorithms combine with hardware acceleration, such as a built in first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue that extends battery life by allowing an application processor to access it at its leisure, instead of constantly polling it.

According the Virtual Strategy Magazine, research firm IHS iSuppli says the demand for MEMS technology in consumer electronics and mobile handsets will grow by 25.6% in 2011.

“In conjunction with accelerometers, compasses and gyroscopes, pressure sensors will be a key component for indoor navigation solutions in combination with other location technologies such as WiFi triangulation,” said J'er'emie Bouchaud, principal analyst at IHS iSuppli.

“Pressure sensors have already appeared in tablets in 2011, and IHS iSuppli expects sensor-supported navigation to take off in smart phones and handsets in 2012 and 2013.”