Sensor hub has unlimited imagination

When it comes to the sensor hub, the chip suppliers that the industry can even think of are mostly ST (STMicroelectronics) and NXP (NXP) manufacturers, and we know that in the consumer sensor device market, ST is in a leadership role, so ST also has a first-line position in the sensor hub market. In fact, the market appeared to be a sensing hub, and it was also reported by ST that the nine-axis sensor was being used by many smart phone manufacturers.

Only later, as Apple introduced the coprocessor M7 when the previous iPhone was introduced, it made the importance of sensing hubs even more important. The next question is, what challenges will the sensing hub face in the future? Yang Zhenglian, senior product marketing manager of the ST MCU Division, said that as the Android version is continuously updated, this is a challenge for the sensing hub.

But for the sensor hub, the most basic requirement is nothing more than the continuous reduction of power consumption, performance improvement, and optimization of software and hardware integration. In order to reduce power consumption, for example, Google released a version of Android 5.0 (code named Lollipop; lollipop) last year to propose a corresponding approach for extending the life of the power supply. At the same time, it hopes that this version can seamlessly carry tablet computers and smart devices. For mobile phones, car computers and wearable devices, since the application area covers wearable devices, the issue of power consumption cannot be ignored.

In the past, most of the industry’s impressions of the sensing hubs were mainly focused on the use of MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) sensors, but Yang Zhenglian said that the application of the sensor hub will also slowly move to the IoT application field. Therefore, if the sensing hub is limited to collocation with MEMS sensors, the layout will be greatly reduced. For ST, whether MEMS sensors or other types of sensors, or even support for many wireless technologies, etc. , ST's MCU (microcontroller) can meet the relevant system design. Therefore, the manner in which the ST views the sensor hub is that the ST's MCU will be responsible for the operation of all sensors and wireless technology, and will only cover a wider range of applications.

As for other semiconductor companies currently on the market intending to attack the sensing hub market, Yang Zhenglian said with a smile that he still appears to be in a more obvious leading position. Even if there are vendors in the market who emphasize that the power consumption can be much better than the MCU-based sense hub, but in practice, in addition to the hardware, software assistance and follow-up support services must also be in place, and again, ST The MCU can dynamically adjust the core clock, can process the data of all sensors in the shortest time, and then enter the dormant state, which can also save considerable power.