Kionix Joins Texas Instruments Developer Network

(Business News & Technology News, 9 Sep 2009)

Kionix, Inc. has joined the Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) Developer Network to support motion-sensing applications driven by TI’s ultra-low power MSP430 microcontroller (MCU) platform.
“Customers that have selected the MSP430 can now easily enhance their applications by incorporating sensor inputs from Kionix accelerometers,” said Eric Eisenhut, Kionix’s Vice President for Sales and Marketing. “Kionix offers two development tools that provide engineers with versatile development platforms for cost-sensitive, low-power designs and designs that will rely on the highest performance tri-axis accelerometer specifications.”
Kionix’s EZ430-C7 Evaluation Board has been developed for use with TI’s eZ430-F2013 MSP430 Development Board. This combination is ideally suited for the lowest-power, cost-sensitive application. This convenient USB form factor kit allows users to move quickly toward the creation of accelerometer-enabled functionality. The KXR94 Development Kit, a stand-alone development platform, includes the TI MSP430F149 MCU. The KXR94 tri-axis accelerometer product delivers industry-leading sensor performance, both electrically and mechanically.
“Kionix’s advanced motion-sensing technology combined with the ultra-low-power capability of the MSP430 MCU provides customers with a powerful development solution that will speed time-to-market for their products,” said Eric Seigel, MCU Developer Network Manager at TI.
Kionix was recently named the world’s fastest-growing MEMS manufacturer by Yole Research Development. The Company is a leading supplier to the consumer, industrial, healthcare, and automotive electronics markets with its broad offering of inertial-sensing products. Consumer electronics leaders worldwide utilize Kionix’s technology for motion-based gaming; gesture recognition and user-interface operations in cell phones and handheld PDAs; personal navigation; and free-fall detection in ultra-mobile PCs, laptops, and hard disk drives. The system integration of Kionix inertial sensors has been simplified through the use of development tools that interface a standard microcontroller to the sensor via analog or digital bus communication (I2C and SPI) as well as through functional algorithms that Kionix is integrating at increasing levels into its products.
The EZ430-C7 Evaluation Board holds Kionix’s KXSC7-2050 accelerometer and plugs directly into an MSP430 Development Board, TI part number eZ430-F2013 (not included). A CD containing sample firmware for reading acceleration and step-by-step instructions is included. The KXR94 Development Kit includes a KXR94-2050 accelerometer, TI’s MSP430F149 MCU, onboard battery, and memory. Both parts are available through Kionix at salesna@kionix.com.