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Visitor II
June 18, 2019
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How to detect drop of a product

  • June 18, 2019
  • 1 reply
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What would be a good accelerometer to be used in a product to detect if it has been dropped? The idea is to build a battery-powered subsystem for an (expensive) medical equipment to track improper handling (e.g. drop or tilt) during transport or during operation which might impact product performance.

We would also be interested in a reference design for the whole subsystem incl. MCU, RTC and MEMS sensor.

NOTE: This question and answer originated from a customer support case which was handled by us. We regularly review support cases and add any helpful ones here for all to benefit from.

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    Best answer by Central SUPPORT

    We suggest to look at our STM32 Nucleo boards as a reference design in combination with MEMS expansion boards X-NUCLEO-IKS01A2 or X-NUCLEO-IKS01A3. On top of this we offer a “Sensor and motion algorithm software expansion�? called X-CUBE-MEMS1, see here: https://www.st.com/en/embedded-software/x-cube-mems1.html. It offers many algorithms that you can re-use for your application.

     Please check specifically the “MotionFD real-time fall detection library�? which is described in User Manual UM2275. This algo is for fall detection with accelerometer and pressure sensor. For your application you only need the accelerometer.

    With a 2 to 16 g sensor (LIS2DH12), you can monitor the fall. With a high g sensor (H3LIS331DL), you can monitor impact up to 400g. ST provides an excellent range of choices for your application. For low-power 2-16g, use LIS2DW12, this might be your preference.

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    Central SUPPORTAuthorAnswer
    Visitor II
    June 18, 2019

    We suggest to look at our STM32 Nucleo boards as a reference design in combination with MEMS expansion boards X-NUCLEO-IKS01A2 or X-NUCLEO-IKS01A3. On top of this we offer a “Sensor and motion algorithm software expansion�? called X-CUBE-MEMS1, see here: https://www.st.com/en/embedded-software/x-cube-mems1.html. It offers many algorithms that you can re-use for your application.

     Please check specifically the “MotionFD real-time fall detection library�? which is described in User Manual UM2275. This algo is for fall detection with accelerometer and pressure sensor. For your application you only need the accelerometer.

    With a 2 to 16 g sensor (LIS2DH12), you can monitor the fall. With a high g sensor (H3LIS331DL), you can monitor impact up to 400g. ST provides an excellent range of choices for your application. For low-power 2-16g, use LIS2DW12, this might be your preference.

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