TDK Corporation nnounced the TDK i3 Micro Module, the world’s first module with built-in edge AI and wireless mesh connectivity capability. Through TDK’s collaboration with Texas Instruments (TI), the i3 Micro Module integrates the TI SimpleLink™ platform, featuring the CC2652R7, an Arm® Cortex®-M4F multiprotocol 2.4-GHz wireless 32-bit microcontroller (MCU) for real-time monitoring. The new module additionally integrates TDK’s IIM-42352 high-performance SmartIndustrialTM MEMS accelerometer and digital output temperature sensor, edge AI, and mesh network functionality into a single unit, facilitating data aggregation, integration, and processing.
The i3 Micro Module’s ultracompact, battery-powered wireless sensor, facilitates users to achieve sensing at most any desired position without physical constraints like wiring. This dramatically expedites the prediction of anomalies in machinery and equipment, enabling an ideal Condition-based Monitoring (CbM) implementation. Monitoring through real-time visualized empirical equipment data instead of relying on manpower and scheduled maintenance, understanding the health of machinery and equipment to help extend utilization life, and minimizing production downtime by preventing unexpected failures — all contribute to establishing an ideal predictive maintenance system. TDK designed the i3 Micro Module for truly “smart” sensor node edge implementation aimed at a wide variety of production equipment, empowering the ongoing global evolution toward smart factories.
“As more electronics and automation are being implemented in factories and buildings, companies are seeking more efficient ways to anticipate and manage equipment needs, avoiding expensive downtime,” said Nick Smith, product marketing manager at Texas Instruments. “This collaboration between TI and TDK will bring more technology into factories and increase their efficiency through simpler and more powerful sensing and real-time communication. TI’s connectivity technology is backed by over 20 years of experience to help drive innovations such as these modules.”
- Texas Instruments: TI CC2652R7 SimpleLink platform Arm® Cortex®-M4F multiprotocol 2.4-GHz wireless 32-bit Arm-based MCU.
- TDK: IIM-42352 High-performance SmartIndustrialTM MEMS accelerometer features digital-output X-, Y-, and Z-axis accelerometer with programmable full-scale range of ±2g, ±4g, ±8g, and ±16g, user-programmable interrupts, I3C℠ / I²C / SPI slave host interface, digital-output temperature sensor, an external clock input that supports highly accurate clock input from 31 kHz to 50 kHz, and 20,000g shock tolerance.
“TDK’s i3 Micro Module facilitates numerous benefits to the manufacturing floor to enable digital transformation and an enhanced smart factory environment,” stated Christian Hoffman, General Manager, Corporate Marketing Group, TDK Corporation. “The module simplifies the deployment and sensor data gathering process giving users the bandwidth to focus on effective condition based monitoring and predictive maintenance initiatives.”
The i3 Micro Module solution is expected to be available through most global distribution partners by the fourth quarter of 2023. Product demonstrations are available at TDK’s booth # 16181 at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 5-8, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
For more information and contact please visit https://www.tdk.com/en/featured_stories/entry_046-sensor-micro-module.html
Glossary
- i3 Micro Module: Intelligent Industrial Internet micro module
- Smart factory: An initiative aimed at the forefront of manufacturing to promote the collection and utilization of real-time big data as well as the automation and autonomous operation of production lines by utilizing digital technologies such as IoT, AI, and robotics.
- Edge AI: The technology of building AI into edge devices such as IoT devices and sensors, allowing the edge devices to learn and infer. Inference and decision-making are performed within the edge device based on data collected through the edge.
- Mesh network: A communication network in which multiple relay devices in an equal relationship with each other form a mesh-like transmission path and transfer data by passing them around.
- CbM: Condition-based monitoring (CbM) is defined as a predictive maintenance strategy that continuously monitors the condition of assets using different types of sensors and uses the data extracted from sensors to monitor assets in real time.
Main applications
- Factory automation
- Robotics
- HVAC filter monitoring
Key features
- Edge AI enabled anomaly detection
- Embedded algorithm for vibration monitoring
- Sensors: accelerometer, temperature
- Wireless connectivity: BLE and mesh network
- USB interface
- Replaceable battery
- PC software for data collection, AI training, and visualization
