A Novel Virtual Accelerometer Array Using One Single Device Based on Time Intervals Measurement

This paper presents a novel virtual accelerometer array using one single device. The device can simultaneously offer multiple acceleration measurement results, which improves the accuracy via combining all the measurements. The acceleration is measured based on time intervals measurement by harmonically oscillating a mass-on-spring and creating triggering events when proof mass passes a set of predefined displacement reference points. And multiple acceleration measurement results are obtained by predefined multiple sets of displacement reference points. Compared with the conventional sensor array, it lowers volume and power consumption as well as cost. And more importantly, it overcomes two major problems. First, the non-simultaneous responses from multiple sensors under one acceleration input can be alleviated. Second, the inconsistent measurement between multiple sensors are eliminated. In this paper, four measurement results are offered by the presented virtual accelerometer array using one device. The test results show that the accuracy of the virtual accelerometer is increased by a factor of 1.55 compared with the individual device.