LSM6DSM Longevity (In Alitum, this is NRND)

[TotoCobalt]

Hello,

I want to use LSM6DSM, so I got the dev-kit and tested it out.

Now I decided to use this sensor and was looking for the symbols in Altium, but it is NRND, so I double checked in ST Micro web site if it was NRND, but it is still Active.

As I am going to use this sensor now, I would like to make sure of guaranteed longevity. I couldn't find this in the longevity page.

[Peter BENSCH]

All MEMS sensors starting with the letter L are so-called Consumer Sensors, for which no long-term availability is specified. If the huge customers for whom they were once developed no longer use the sensors due to model changes, they will very likely be discontinued.

This sensor came onto the market well before 2017. It might be a better choice to select one of the sensors starting with I (Industrial).

Hope that helps?

Regards
/Peter

[TotoCobalt]

Hello Peter,

Thank you for the reply.

I am a bit confused with the expression "Consumer sensor" and "Industrial sensor".

I understood that "consumer sensors" are for the application for normal consumers, and "industrial sensors" are for the application in the dedicated industry.

Because of my understanding, I didn't look into "Industrial sensors" as they would be more expensive.

Could you clarify the difference between "consumer sensor" and "industrial sensor"?

And, we don't need high accuracy as we need to measure the certain movement only, but it requires checking the acceleration and gyroscope at the same time, so we were looking at IMU sensor.
Most of Industrial sensors are 1.5 to 2 times more expensive than consumer sensors, so I still want consumer sensors, and I think LSM6SDV would be suitable for us as it was launched in 2023. (And it is pin-to-pin)
But if I missed any important point between consumer sensors and industrial sensors, please let me know.

Thank you.

[Andrew Neil]

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@TotoCobalt wrote:

looking for the symbols in Altium, but it is NRND, so I double checked in ST Micro web site if it was NRND, but it is still Active.

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Altium is just a 3rd-party software company making a CAD tool - they're not a definitive source for this information!

ST are the actual manufacturer - so theirs would be the word to go by.

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@TotoCobalt wrote:

I didn't look into "Industrial sensors" as they would be more expensive.

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One part of the reason for that is quite probably the guarantee of long-term availability.

So you need to factor-in your costs if the consumer device suddenly becomes unobtanium...

[TotoCobalt]

Thanks Andrew.
Yes. I agree. I had checked that LSM6DSM was "Active" on ST website, so I decided to use it, and I know that Altium's information might not be correct, but it gave me a warning signal that I should check the longevity of LSM6DSM. I agree with Peter that LSM6DSM has been in the market too long time, so I decided to use LSM6DSV which was released in 2023. Luckily, they seem to be drop-in replacement.
I still believe that Consumer sensors are for consumer applications, so I would like to keep using the consumer sensors.
If ST cannot guarantee the longevity of consumer sensors, it still gives me a question why ST designed consumer sensors...? Instead of using I series, I would consider other suppliers as I don't need high accuracy, (low power consumption + low BOM cost are more important for my application).

[Tesla DeLorean · Accepted solution]

Consumer in this case is VERY high run-rate customers like Apple, Samsung, Nintendo, Nike, etc with very low lost per unit. With perhaps 12-18 month design refresh.

If you go with these Consumer units, expect to be nimble, and be able to refresh your design periodically to chase what's actually considered current/hot

Perhaps dual-footprint some your BoM can accomodate different part options, including the Industrial parts with longer life cycles / horizons.

[TotoCobalt]

Thank you Tesla. I understood more.
I will consider having dual-footprint.
I will close this inquiry. Thank you for all your support here.