Industry 5.0 represents the next evolution of industrial transformation, emphasising human–machine collaboration, environmental sustainability, and resilient manufacturing. Within this paradigm, sensors play a critical role by optimising equipment efficiency, enhancing machine–operator interaction, improving operational performance, and maintaining workforce safety.
STMicroelectronics is advancing Industry 5.0 with a new generation of smart, high‑accuracy MEMS sensors that integrate machine‑learning cores (MLC) and intelligent sensor processing units (ISPU) for local, ultra‑low‑power analytics at the edge.
The ISM6HG256X is STMicroelectronics latest high‑performance, highly accurate intelligent IMU designed for demanding industrial environments. It combines precise multi‑range motion sensing with integrated AI and advanced event‑detection capabilities. The device uniquely integrates both low‑g and high‑g accelerometers, ensuring that no motion event whether subtle or extreme is missed.
The high-end, low-noise, low-power 6-axis IMU, features a 3-axis digital low-g accelerometer at 16 g, a 3-axis digital high-g accelerometer at 256 g, and a 3-axis digital gyroscope, which offers the best IMU sensor with a quad-channel architecture for processing acceleration and angular rate data on four separate channels (user interface, OIS, EIS, and high-g accelerometer data) with dedicated configuration, processing, and filtering along with a dedicated high-g sensor for high-g shock.
The device’s advanced event‑detection engine provides robust context awareness by recognising free‑fall, 6D orientation, activity/inactivity, stationary/motion states, and wake‑up events. Embedded machine‑learning (MLC) and finite‑state‑machine (FSM) engines with exportable AI features for IoT applications, enable deployment of edge‑AI algorithms directly within the IMU, significantly reducing host‑processor power consumption.
The ISM6HG256X device supports the adaptive self-configuration (ASC) feature, which allows automatically reconfiguring the device in real time based on the detection of a specific motion pattern or based on the output of a specific decision tree configured in the MLC, without any intervention from the host processor. The device also embeds a sensor fusion low-power (SFLP) algorithm able to provide a 6-axis (accelerometer + gyroscope) game rotation vector represented as a quaternion stored directly in the onboard FIFO for efficient host retrieval.
For long‑term design stability, the ISM6HG256X 6-axis intelligent IMU is covered by STMicroelectronics 10-year product longevity commitment.
The ISM6HG256X is housed in a plastic, land grid array (LGA) package measuring just 2.5 x 3.0 x 0.83 mm and features an extended operating temperature range of -40°C +105°C making it ideal for ultracompact system designs in industrial applications.
Design Support
To aid system evaluation and development, designers can explore the full capabilities of the IMU sensor with the STEVAL-MKI248KA adapter kit designed to facilitate the evaluation of the ISM6HG256X 6-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU).
The kit includes a STEVAL-MKIGIBV5 DIL24 adapter board, a flat cable, and a square PCB with the ISM6HG256X 6-axis IMU onboard. The sensor is soldered precisely in the centre of the square PCB and can be attached to the system with double-sided adhesive or can be alternatively mounted using the holes located in each corner of the PCB. The STEVAL-MKIGIBV5 adapter board can be plugged into a standard DIL-24 socket.
The STEVAL-MKI248KA kit provides the complete ISM6HG256X pinout, and it comes ready-to-use with the required decoupling capacitors on the VDD power supply line.
The kit is supported by the STEVAL-MKI109D evaluation platform, which includes a high-performance ST 32-bit microcontroller. It functions as a bridge between the sensor and a PC, on which it is possible to use the downloadable MEMS Studio graphical user interface, or dedicated software routines for customized applications. It is also possible to plug the kit on X-NUCLEO-IKS02A1 or STEVAL-STWINBX1 using an ad hoc connector mounted on the STEVAL-MKI248KA board.
The ISM6HG256X 6-axis IMU is ideal for a wide range of applications including asset tracking, black boxes, robotics & co-robotics, factory automation, gaming and motion-interactive devices, condition monitoring systems, and worker PPE (personal protective equipment) safety systems.
Anglia are offering customers a FREE evaluation kit and samples of the ISM6HG256X 6-axis intelligent IMU from STMicroelectronics, please fill in the form below to register your interest now.
Free samples are subject to availability.
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