April 9, 2015 – ams (Country Manager Jong-Deok Lee), a specialist in high-performance analog ICs and sensors, announced that it is supplying its MEMS gas sensor component (product name: AS-MLV-P2) for volatile organic compound (VOC) detection in Withings’ new home monitoring system.

The precise, compact, and power-efficient AS-MLV-P2 sensor produces resistance values that change very precisely in response to changes in ambient pollutant levels commonly found in indoor environments.

The AS-MLV-P2's features of size, accuracy, reliability, and low power consumption make it ideal for air quality monitoring applications in smart homes and IoT devices. In Withings' elegant design and compact home products, the AS-MLV-P2 offers a 5Mpixel video camera, dual microphones, temperature and humidity sensors, and integrated Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® Smart wireless technology. In other words, users of the home monitoring system can remotely look around, listen to, feel, and smell their homes through a smartphone or a tablet app provided by Withings.

AS-MLV-P2 measures ambient pollutant concentrations to reduce reducing gases associated with harmful air pollutants, such as alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, organic acids, amines, aliphatic compounds, and aromatic hydrocarbons, which can be harmful to human and animal health when at high levels. In the home app, the sensor measures these chemicals and converts the results into VOC concentration readings as well as air quality grades.

Home devices also notify the user via phone or tablet if VOC concentrations exceed preset standards, allowing the user to take appropriate measures such as opening windows, operating an air purifier, or increasing the fan speed of the ventilation system.

The accurate VOC detection performance of the AS-MLV-P2 sensor is realized through ams's proprietary MEMS and metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) technologies. This technology enables devices such as home monitors to provide reliable data to consumers concerned about the indoor air quality where their families breathe.

ams’s validated AS-MLV-P2 directly measures pollutant concentrations and provides useful information that allows users to take action to protect and improve air quality. Available in a surface mount package, this product offers performance in a small footprint and provides stable long-term operation while having low power consumption (typically 34mW in continuous operation).

Withings CEO Cedric Hutchings stated, “The core function of a home room monitor is to provide users with simple and reliable measurements of air quality. We believe that the completeness of indoor air quality ratings depends on highly accurate measurements of key contaminants. This is why we adopted the AS-MLV-P2 for our home room monitors.”

He said, “Furthermore, it is not just the sensor that is outstanding; ams’s expertise in hardware and software design, as well as the support from the engineering team, are also excellent. Thanks to these strengths, we were able to integrate the AS-MLV-P2 into our product design without any difficulty.”

The AS-MLV-P2 gas sensor is available in mass production quantities. It is priced at $14.30 per unit based on a quantity of 1,000.

For detailed information on samples and technical data, please refer to www.ams.com/Gas-Sensor/AS-MLV-P2 or contact chemicalsensors@ams.com.