Bosch BHI385 programmable smart IMU with on-sensor AI-powered analysis
Mouser is now stocking the BHI385 smart inertial measurement unit (IMU) from Bosch. The BHI385 is an intelligent sensor system that delivers accurate acceleration measurement up to ±28 g – enabling precise motion analysis for high-impact events across sports, fitness, and gaming. The sensor combines a gyroscope and accelerometer with embedded AI software and an integrated 32-bit microprocessor, creating a complete programmable system based on Bosch Sensortec’s field-proven IMU platform.
The BHI385 sensor’s embedded AI supports key motion functions, including 6DoF/9DoF sensor fusion, step counting, activity recognition, and gesture detection (single/double/triple tap). Self-learning cyclic gesture recognition allows it to detect repeated motion patterns and adapt them to the individual, recognizing what is being done and how well it is being performed. This enables advanced use cases such as quality-of-movement evaluation in sports or rehabilitation training.
All processing runs on the integrated low-power processor, avoiding wake-up calls to the host CPU. Typical current consumption is less than 500 μA at 50 Hz for sensor fusion, and under 50 μA for simpler accelerometer-based algorithms.
The BHI385 is offered in a compact 20-pin LGA package measuring 2.5 x 3.0 x 0.95 mm³. Low power consumption and embedded intelligence make it a perfect fit for wearables, hearables, and edge AI systems.
The BHI385 IMU is supported by the BHI385 Shuttle Board 3.0. Enabling the evaluation of the BHI385 smart sensor, the Shuttle Board 3.0 also includes a BME688 AI-based environmental sensor, a BMM350 magnetometer, and an onboard pressure sensor. The BHI385 Shuttle Board 3.0 includes essential passive components and provides access to all sensor pins, making it ideal for standalone testing and integration into larger development systems. The Shuttle Board is designed to work with the Bosch Application Board 3.1 sensor prototyping platform. Bosch’s Motion AI Studio supports fast time-to-market, while the Open SDK enables custom machine learning model integration.
