STMicroelectronics has released a set of tools and accompanying software package for programming the intelligent sensor processing unit (ISPU) embedded in next-generation intelligent MEMS IMUs, ISM330IS and LSM6DSO16IS.
The toolset and software help employ ISPU to handle motion-related workloads such as activity recognition and anomaly detection directly at the sensor. This allows you to reduce system power and latency by offloading the local microcontroller and uniquely specializing sensor behavior for the application.
Using the ISPU toolset, developers can program the sensor's intelligent processing unit using the familiar and widespread C programming language. They can choose to work from a command line interface (CLI) or from a desktop-based environment. in Eclipse, such as STM32CubeIDE, and use a graphical user interface (GUI), such as AlgoBuilder and Unicleo.
The X-CUBE-ISPU software package contains templates, example projects, and ready-to-use libraries that help developers quickly understand how to use and program the sensors' ISPU — and can be used as a starting point for implementing custom algorithms.
Pre-built files are also available, which allow users to load the X-CUBE-ISPU examples directly into the sensor using one of the GUIs, with no coding required. Additionally, a GitHub repository is available with more examples, tutorials, and other development resources.
Using these features helps simplify development work for applications such as personal electronics, including wearable devices for activity recognition and health monitoring, as well as industrial devices such as asset trackers, equipment health monitors, robots, and machine controllers. .
ST's ISM330IS and LSM6DSO16IS inertial modules contain an always-on 3D accelerometer and a 3D gyroscope with the integrated ISPU. They feature low power consumption, consuming just 0.46mA in low power mode and low noise at 70μg/√Hz in high performance mode. The sensor hub functionality allows you to collect data from up to four additional external sensors. An embedded temperature sensor is also included and each device is housed in a compact 2.5mm x 3mm x 0.83mm Land Grid Array (LGA) plastic package.