Publications Details

Near-zero power accelerometer wakeup system

Reger, Robert W.; Barney, Bryson B.; Yen, Sean Y.; Satches, Michael R.; Wiwi, Michael W.; Young, Andrew I.; Delaney, Matthew A.; Griffin, Benjamin G.

The defense community desires low-power sensors deployed around critical assets for intrusion detection. A piezoelectric microelectromechanical accelerometer is coupled with a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor comparator to create a near-zero power wakeup system. The accelerometer is designed to operate at resonance and employs aluminum nitride for piezoelectric transduction. At a target frequency of 160 Hz, the accelerometer achieves sensitivities as large as 26 V/g. The system is shown to require only 5.4 nW of power before and after latching. The combined system is shown to wake up to a target frequency signature of a generator while rejecting background noise as well as non-target frequency signatures.