Development of a High-G Shock Sensor Based on MEMS Technology for Mass-Market Applications

In this paper, the development of a tri-axial high-g shock sensor based on ST ThELMA (Thick Epitaxial Layer for Micro-gyroscopes and Accelerometers) MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Sensors) technology is presented. We provide a comprehensive overview on shock sensing by comparing the current solutions available on the market and in the literature with the proposed design. From an extensive measurement campaign using a first prototype and reference sensors, design guidelines were extracted. These include: required full scale, minimum output data rate, bandwidth range and operation mode, for a dedicated high-g sensor for the mass market. Additionally, we briefly illustrate how this sensor can be coupled with a low-g accelerometer to add value in inertial systems.