News from CES: Freescale rolls out 3-axis accelerometers

LAS VEGAS — Freescale Semiconductor introduced a family of three-axis accelerometers here that could see action in a wide variety of consumer products ranging from video games to laptop PCs to sporting equipment. The accelerometers are already serving in a game called GuitarHero 2, as well as in a snowboarding game that enables users to stand on a real snow board and simultaneously ski down a virtual hill on screen. The company is also working with a university-based effort that is deploying the three-axis sensors in basketballs.

Known as MMA73X0L Low-G Acceleration Sensors, the family  is designed to detect motion in three axes at accelerations ranging from 1.5 g to 16 g. The 1.5 g sensors provide freefall detection and tilt compensation, while the 16 g sensors are employed in sports monitoring and robotics. The devices are also expected to see action in such products as camcorders, pedometers, personal navigation systems, black box event recorders, anti-theft devices, and seismic activity monitors, among other applications.

Freescale engineers here at CES demonstrated the use of the sensors in GuitarHero and in a snowboarding game designed for PlayStation and Xbox, and allowed us try the games with less impressive results.