The reason Fairchild is targeting the MEMS market is simple. It is because the market is growing rapidly, coinciding with the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), as inertial sensors are being incorporated into most related applications.

Fairchild's moves toward the MEMS market have been anticipated for several years already. In 2011, it acquired Jyve for MEMS processing technology, and last year, it acquired Xsens, the world's leading motion tracking algorithm company, thereby acquiring both hardware and software technologies for MEMS technology.

Equipped with MEMS hardware/software technology by acquiring a specialized company

The FIS1100 6-axis MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), born from such strategic investment, integrates a best-in-class 9-axis sensor fusion algorithm into Fairchild’s proprietary AttitudeEngine motion processor.

"The differentiating factor of this product is that it reduces overall system power consumption between the sensor and the MCU, and provides a fusion algorithm that reduces development effort by utilizing libraries provided by Fairchild when using 9 axes," said Lee Jong-heun, General Manager at Fairchild Korea (pictured).

The company stated that the FIS1100 IMU, which features an AttitudeEngine motion processor and XKF3 sensor fusion, has low power consumption and provides "Always-on" sensor technology required in various fields such as sports, fitness, wearable sensors for health, pedestrian navigation, autonomous robots, and virtual and augmented reality.

Manager Lee stated, “Always sensing sensors are no longer an additional feature, but a basic component of all portable devices.”"It has become an effective feature. We plan to continue utilizing our know-how to reduce power consumption so that it remains always on and provides accurate information," he said.

The AttitudeEngine processor processes 6-axis inertial data internally at high speed and transmits it to the host processor at a lower speed to meet the requirements of the application, thereby offsetting the need for high-frequency interrupts.

This allows the system processor to maintain sleep mode for a longer period, extending battery life while preserving functionality and accuracy.

In other words, while MCUs primarily responsible for calculations tend to have high power consumption, Fairchild was able to relatively reduce the power consumption of the MCU by having the DSP within the sensor module handle some of the calculation functions. Manager Lee Jong-heon cited an example showing that, due to this, power consumption at the overall system level is reduced by up to 1/10.

Starting with this product, Fairchild aims to develop processors that optimize inertial sensors, thereby enabling customers to develop efficient products.

We plan to expand our market by starting with a rich market target.

Developers are having difficulty adapting pedometers or software that tracks footsteps while walking to the sensors of each platform. However, we possess the appropriate software technology for that, and we will continue to provide such functionality within the library we have created.

Kim Gui-nam, CEO of Fairchild Korea, said, “The response to this product has been positive because its biggest feature is that it allows developers to conveniently develop applications. In the early stages, we plan to focus our sales on the rich market that needs our solution, and gradually expand into the mass market.”