Bosch Sensortec announces the BMP390, a barometric pressure sensor for altitude tracking in smartphones, wearable and hearable devices. According to the company, the new sensor can measure height changes below 10 centimeters and is 50 percent more accurate than its predecessor.

The new BMP390 supports GPS applications for outdoor navigation and calorie expenditure estimation tasks. The use of advanced barometric pressure sensing can determine whether a user is walking up or down an incline, stairs or lifting weights during a fitness training session. This helps to increase the precision of calorie tracking by up to 15 percent. Thanks to the improved accuracy of altitude measurements, fitness trackers are able to show exactly how far a user has run, walked, or cycled.

The BMP390 provides a typical relative accuracy of ±0.03 hPa. Typical absolute accuracy is ±0.5 hPa. The sensor offers high temperature stability across its entire operating temperature and pressure range of 0 to 65 °C and 700 to 1100 hPa respectively, with an average temperature coefficient offset (TCO) of just ±0.6 Pa/K. According to the company, noise is also low, at 0.9 Pa typical, an improvement of 25 percent relative to the predecessor BMP380. 

Measuring at 2.0 mm x 2.0 mm x 0.75 mm makes the new sensor ideal for integration into portable devices. Power consumption is kept low at 3.2 μA at 1 Hz (typical) to maximize battery life on portable devices.

The BMP390 is available for high-volume smartphone, wearable,  and hearable manufacturers. 

For more information, visit: https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/