Ultra-low-power accelerometers are able to detect motion, orientation, vibration and even gestures with minimal energy consumption. These sensors enable a range of applications that improve efficiency, safety and convenience in modern smart buildings.

In occupancy detection, accelerometers can be used to sense motion or the presence of people in a room as accelerometers can be highly sensitive and are able to detect subtle vibrations such as footsteps. This becomes relevant for applications like conserving energy in lighting and HVAC systems and also for intrusion detection.

Systems where monitoring and diagnostics are crucial also make use of accelerometers. In elevator and HVAC systems, accelerometers provide data about vibration and movement patterns and thus can detect irregularities in operation and signal maintenance when needed.

As a side note, we also have a machine learning design for accelerometer data processing, leveraging the capabilities of the CC1352 platform to recognize gestures or movement patterns (for example up-down, side-to-side or circular motion). The full design can be easily evaluated with Edge Impulse platform, for additional information you can get started from here.

The BOOSTXL-UPLSENSE comes with a ultra-low power accelerometer. This sensor uses the serial peripheral interface (SPI) interface to communicate with the Sensor Controller. The accelerometer can report to the Sensor Controller with a frequency of 100Hz. Once a change over, a certain threshold is detected, the Sensor Controller wakes up the system CPU and the System CPU can light up one of two LEDs.

Figure 3-27 SPI Accelerometer: Steady - 30 seconds

Figure 3-28 SPI Accelerometer: Steady - 1 second

Figure 3-29 SPI Accelerometer: Steady - One Measurement

Figure 3-30 SPI Accelerometer: Moving - One Measurement

Figure 3-31 SPI Accelerometer: Moving - One Measurement

Figure 3-32 SPI Accelerometer: Moving - One Measurement