ST delivers advanced context-aware sensors in ST Sustainable Technology framework
STMicroelectronics’ newest miniature motion sensors feature enhanced precision for accurate event reconstruction while meeting the most stringent sustainable-materials standards.
The new 6-axis sensors, or inertial measurement units (IMU), will be used in consumer devices like fitness trackers, smart tags, and professional applications such as industrial asset monitors, robots, and drone applications including photography and agricultural surveying. They are part of the ST Sustainable Technology initiative that drives responsible product development.
Sensors that support event reconstruction let smart applications distinguish between different types of incidents, enhancing capabilities such as accident alerting, tool-usage monitoring, robot teaching, sports-performance analysis, and concussion detection. ST’s new IMUs, the consumer-oriented LSM6DSK320X and industrial-grade ISM6HGK256X, achieve this with an advanced super-symmetric gyroscope architecture that increases sensing precision, combined with precise accelerometer tracking across a wide dynamic range. These capabilities also enhance use cases such as drone-flight stabilisation, structural-condition monitoring, and game controllers.
The super-symmetric architecture comprises two mirrored electromechanical structures, acting in counter-phase to each other, thereby cancelling the effects of external vibrations and shocks. Combined with a fully differential signal chain, this structure maximises detected-signal strength and resilience.
The internal structure is also extremely compact, enabling each IMU to contain one gyroscope with two separate accelerometers in a single package. The dual accelerometers allow simultaneous measurement of low-range disturbances up to ±16 g and high-g events up to ±320 g, ensuring these IMUs never miss an event. This contrasts with single-accelerometer IMUs that cannot perform measurements while switching between low-range and high-range modes.
The consumer-oriented LSM6DSK320X and industrial-grade ISM6HGK256X also contain ST’s machine-learning core (MLC) that embeds AI processing directly in the sensor to reduce the application’s energy consumption and save system resources.
Developers can leverage extra libraries including ST’s Motion XLF, and sensor-fusion and context-awareness software, in addition to basic libraries, that enhance power and flexibility to address diverse applications.
The new IMUs are supported within the ST MEMS Studio development environment. The STEVAL-MKI257A adapter board for the LSM6DSK320X and STEVAL-MKI258KA adapter board for the ISM6HGK256X will be available in the eSTore and from distributors by November 2026.
The LSM6DSK320X for consumer applications operates over a broad temperature range, from -40°C to +85°C. The industrial-grade ISM6HGK256X handles temperatures from -40°C to +105°C and is included in ST’s 10-year longevity program that assures long-term component availability.
