Smart, Tri-Axial-Acceleration, Data Acquisition and Storage System

Silicon Designs has developed a low-power, miniature accelerometer technology that combines micromachining and integrated circuit in a single package. These units weigh less than 1 gram and consume about 5 milliwatts of power and are designed for use in smart systems. The proposed project is an application of these micromachined accelerometers to build a system that measures and stores three orthogonal acceleration components for a period of up to 24 hours. It will be a smart system with the software flexibility needed to adapt it for a range of applications. The proposed design will contain three accelerometers together with a microprocessor, several other off-the-shelf low-power CMOS parts and a single semicustom IC. In Phase I we will develop the details of the design. A design review will be conducted at the completion of Phase I. In a Phase I extension and Phase II we propose to move rapidly to build, test and deliver completed units to NASA. In Phase III we propose to add these units and modified versions of these units to our product line for the instrumentation marketplace and to license the technology to one or more systems companies.