An IMU is a self-contained system that measures and reports a body’s linear and angular motion. There is interest in integrating IMUs into the system of sensors required to enable autonomous driving. OxTS (an Oxford spin-out), for example, argues that the safe function of any automated driving system is dependent on continuously knowing the dynamics of the vehicle in terms of location, position on the road, direction, orientation and velocity of the vehicle. To measure these characteristics necessitates the use of an inertial measurement unit (IMU), the company says.

Most importantly, the IMU provides the data which enables an automated driving system to not only know where it is, but also how it’s moving.

—OxTS

Analog Devices says that its new unit delivers the performance expected from legacy solutions that are three times larger and more weight, at a fraction of the overall cost and power, bringing tactical-grade stability to applications other than those with unlimited budgets.

The ADIS16490 represents Analog Devices’ most advanced IMU, leveraging years of system-level experience and ADI’s best performing angular rate and linear acceleration MEMS cores combined with precision calibration, sensor filtering, and fusion. As a result of this advanced level of integration, engineers now have a product that offers the lowest Gyro Angular Random Walk and Accelerometer Velocity Random Walk to help eliminate jitter in stabilization feedback loops, as well as maintain low positional drift in navigation applications where a carefully balanced combination of low noise, tight alignment, vibration immunity, and wide bandwidth (480 Hz Gyro, 750 Hz Accel) provide the lowest total error for the most challenging system implementations.

ADI will be sampling two new variants of the ADIS16490 IMU by the end of 2016. The ADIS16495 and ADIS16497 IMUs will offer greater dynamic range options, which translate into improved design flexibility and broader application reach for system developers.