Adaptive, High-Resolution Accelerometer for Extreme Dynamic Range

Tao Systems proposes to develop a cost-effective, adaptive accelerometer having 60dB resolution over the dynamic range of acceleration from 0.001 to 100,000 g. We propose to combine an array of signal- and range-optimized MEMS accelerometer devices with a novel active sensor circuit (ASC) topology that has several relevant features: with a single op-amp, it has at least an order-of-magnitude higher sensitivity than a Wheatstone bridge-based circuit, can incorporate several piezoresistive gage pairs, is able to independently monitor the behavior of each piezoresistive element, and is relatively immune to EMI/RFI. In the Phase I effort, we shall design, fabricate and demonstrate a single-axis MEMS accelerometer array with an ASC-based system that will maintain a high output resolution over a dynamic range through intelligent signal processing of the device array.