Sony is expected to demonstrate its new motion controller for the PlayStation 3 at the 2010 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which opened today.
However, STMicroelectronics, the chipmaker whose accelerometers were behind Nintendo’s Wii remote, is poised to take controllers to the next level with as many as 11 measures of sensitivity.
The original Wii-mote detected three axes of movement with its STMicro micro-electro-mechanical systems (Mems) chip. They were up-down, left-right and forward-backward.
STMicro has now developed a new family of “multi-sensor Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) devices”, or iNEMOs for short, which can detect a variety of movements and states, including direction, as in a compass, pressure, as in an altimeter, and temperature.
There is a three-axes accelerometer, three-axes gyroscope, three-axes magnetometer and temperature and pressure sensors in reference design boards currently being tested by STMicro’s customers.
“In a 12-15 month timeframe,these will all be integrated into a single package,” Benedetto Vigna, head of STMicro’s Mems and sensors division told me.
“Adding the gyroscope to the accelerometer turns a good [gaming] experience into a great one.”
As well as gaming, the new chips could be used in robotics, portable navigation devices, image stabilisation in camera phones and patient monitoring applications.
STMicro is the leading supplier of Mems for consumer and portable applications, according to the iSuppli research firm.
In a report on Monday, iSuppli said Nintendo overtook Samsung last year as the leading purchaser of consumer electronics Mems. This was due to its purchase of gyroscopes to update the sensitivity of its controller with the Wii Motion Plus attachment.
Apple is the fifth largest purchaser, but iSuppli predicts its use of Mems could climb with the company increasing its use of accelerometers-and possibly Mems microphones-in the new iPad tablet.
