Ithaca, New York – Monday, March 30, 2009 – Kionix announced today its latest product and leading innovation in motion-sensing user interfaces for consumer electronics—the KXTF9 tri-axis accelerometer with Directional Tap/Double-Tap™. Made possible by an algorithm embedded into the ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) of the KXTF9 sensor, this feature creates up to 12, unique, tap-enabled commands for customer-specified functions. The KXTF9’s feature set comes from a deep understanding of, and extensive experimental work in, motion-based algorithms by the Kionix application engineering organization.
KXTF9 Directional Tap/Double-Tap™ operates by the detection of a quick, light tap, or double tap, on any of the six faces of an object (±X, ±Y, and ±Z). The embedded algorithm allows the accelerometer to discern a single or double tap and the direction from which the tap originated. Our customers can use these 12 tap/double taps as commands to applications on their product thereby creating novel and intuitive user experiences.
“We’ll soon see users tapping away at their mobile devices,” said Greg Galvin, President and CEO of Kionix. “A single tap to the face of a cell phone could send the call to voicemail or silence the ringing; a tap to the left could enable the navigation functionality; a double tap on the bottom could provide a transition to internet access. The KXTF9 makes this excitingly-simple interface a reality.”
Eric Eisenhut, Vice President for Sales and Marketing, additionally points out, “The KXTF9 not only carries our newest, fully programmable, Directional Tap/Double-Tap™ feature, but it maintains the orientation-detection and low-power motion interrupt algorithms that premiered in our KXTE9 product. Kionix’s leading knowledge of sensors and embedded algorithms allows us to address directly the market’s expectation for an intuitive and natural interaction with the electronics we carry.”
With an industry-standard I2C interface, the KXTF9 features include a user-programmable Output Data Rate (ODR) with analog-to-digital conversions executed at user-defined sampling rates, selectable 8-bit or 12-bit resolution, user-selectable g-range (2g, 4g, and 8g), and a digital high-pass filter with a user-selectable cut-off frequency. Packaged in a 3×3x0.9mm, 10-pin, LGA, the KXTF9 is pin compatible with Kionix’s KXSD9 and KXTE9 sensors and operates at supply voltages from 1.8V to 3.6V DC. The features of the KXTF9 can be evaluated by customers by using Kionix development tools and software support.
About Kionix
Kionix, Inc. (Ithaca, NY), is a global leader in silicon-micromachined inertial sensors, particularly in consumer electronics markets. The privately-held company was founded in 1993 to pioneer high aspect-ratio silicon micromachining based on research originally conducted at Cornell University. Consumer electronics leaders worldwide utilize Kionix’s technology for a wide variety of applications, including motion-based gaming, user-interface and power-management functions in mobile handsets, personal navigation, and hard disk drop protection in mobile products. Kionix’s MEMS products are further diversified into the automotive, industrial, and health-care sectors. The Company offers one of the industry’s broadest families of MEMS inertial sensors including single-, dual-, and tri-axis accelerometers, gyroscopes, and unique combination sensors. Kionix is ISO9001:2000 and TS16949 registered.
