MEMS傳感器設計指南

　　房地產指的是地點、地點、地點。但是我們到底在哪里？

　　就在25年前的水手們發現他們的位置使用一些有限的雙曲線導航系統如羅蘭當附近的土地，但在海上時，他們大多是依靠觀察太陽和星星的古老技術。GPS的出現意味著完全未經訓練的領航員可以得到他們的位置在幾英尺秒，少于一個六分儀的成本。在過去的幾年中，這項技術已經進入汽車甚至電話。

　　然而，消費者需要更多的信息。任天堂的Wii?表明相對位置和設備的運動往往是絕對的經度和緯度一樣重要。雖然通過陀螺儀慣性導航具有悠久的歷史，它一直非常昂貴，只適合最專業的應用，如導彈和大飛機。但是，微機電系統（MEMS–又名日本在歐洲或微微系統技術）已經降低了尺寸、重量、功耗和成本要求到微不足道的水平。

　　MEMS pushed the semiconductor revolution into the world of sensors， with all of the attendant benefits from Moore’s Law. Costs have come down so much that these sensors have found roles in unexpected places. They are used to detect head impacts in football helmets. Some sense a car crash to unlock doors and deploy airbags， and others put a disk drive in a protected state when it experiences a high-g force shock. They can sense tilt in industrial equipment to warn of a safety violation. Some athletic shoes incorporate these products to log exercise activity. The holy grail of portable electronics today is power management to extend battery life， and a MEMS sensor can sense that a device is not being used， and put it into a sleep mode. By measuring rotation， it is possible to stabilize images in a camera or pair of binoculars. Vibration sensors are used to detect impending bearing failures， seismic events， or a security issue such as a window being broken. Tilt information is often used in cameras to detect the horizon， or in tablets and phones to detect orientation. The number and types of applications of MEMS sensors is limited only by the imagination. One can envision swarms of autonomous systems used to sense position and attitude， and indeed most drones do employ them today.