Performance enhancement of portable and connected smart home devices
'ENS210' for adding useful new features

ams (Korea Branch Representative Lee Jong-deok) announced that it has developed the ENS210, a single-die sensor IC. This product provides highly accurate and pre-calibrated measurement results for relative humidity and ambient temperature. The ENS210 is scheduled to be unveiled for the first time at the Electronica exhibition in Munich, Germany, from November 8 to 11, 2016.

The ENS210 provides Kelvin digital temperature output and features an accuracy of up to ±0.2°C in the range of 0°C to 70°C. This product also provides relative humidity measurement results with a digital output exhibiting an accuracy of up to ±3.5%.

Supplied to customers in a pre-calibrated state, this sensor requires no trimming on the production line. Furthermore, since it provides digital output via the I2C interface, signal processing by the host device's application processor or microcontroller is not required.

The ENS210, provided in a molded plastic surface mount package of 2mm x 2mm x 0.75mm, is small enough to be mounted on various smartphones and wearable devices, including fitness monitoring wristbands.

The ENS210, which consumes 40nA in standby mode and 7.1µA (sampling rate 1Hz) in active measurement mode, is characterized by very low battery consumption in small portable applications. In addition, since it operates over a wide input range of 1.71V-3.6V, a separate level-shifting voltage regulator is not required at the point of load (POL) for systems operating with a 1.8V/3.3V power supply.

In wearable devices, the ENS210’s relative humidity and ambient temperature reading capabilities can be used to improve the accuracy and reliability of measurements of physical activity characteristics that vary significantly depending on environmental conditions. It can also be used to add advanced automation or performance enhancement features to connected home appliances or thermostats such as air conditioners, air purifiers, refrigerators, dehumidifiers, microwave ovens, kitchen vents, and weather stations.

The ENS210 is used in conjunction with ams’ CCS811 or CCS801 gas sensor ICs, which measure VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in ambient air, to provide a complete system solution for indoor air quality monitoring. ams provides application software and development boards, enabling OEMs to quickly integrate ams's environmental sensor solutions into their final product designs.

“By introducing a product that integrates relative humidity and ambient temperature sensing functions into a single small IC, ams is helping consumer electronics manufacturers further enhance product performance and provide new features that consumers will find useful, while taking up less space on complex boards,” said Giovanni de Majo, Senior Marketing Manager at ams. “In addition, the ENS210 provides easy-to-use digital output, which reduces the burden of additional processing on application processors or MCUs.”

The ENS210 is currently being supplied for mass production at a price of $1.90 per unit for orders of 100 units. Evaluation boards for the ENS210 are available for purchase at ams’s ICdirect online store.