MEMS: paralleling sensors to reduce noise?

[mbertoni]

Posted on May 07, 2013 at 15:56

Hi, I've heard there is a way to reduce noise (and increase performances) of MEMS sensors.

Let's suppose I'm using MEMS single axis accelerometer:

Noise = 32 mg RMS value in band 0-100HZ

Output (digital) = 1024 counts (equals to 0,5 g).

Now I would use sensors array (let's suppose 3 or 4 MEMS single axis accelerometer) to improve noise margin.

How can I manage data?

Is there a way?

Thanks.

#mems

[AvaTar]

Posted on May 07, 2013 at 16:21

I would call that an expensive way of averaging. All the sensors would have rather similiar noise figures, so you would not gain much, compared to software filtering.

The only advantage would be added redundancy (in presence of some plausibility check).

For improved accuracy, I would look for a better sensor.

What you pay is what you get (... approximately).