Measuring tilt and shock

andy_zcmm — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 22:02:07 GMT

Hello everybody

I want to make a sensor that can measure shock and tilt in transportation. What sensors are needed for measurement? Do you have a specific model recommendation?

Re: Measuring tilt and shock

lisettelozano — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 01:22:21 GMT

Hello Andy,

To measure tilt, you can use an accelerometer. If your project is for transportation (automotive), we have the MMA69xxKQ which are dual-axis, low-g solutions, use SPI to communicate and AEC-Q100 qualified. Typical applications are Electronic parking brake and Tilt Measurement.

We have also 3-axis accelerometers (analog and digital for IoT applications) that can be used to sense tilt, for example:

MMA8491Q is an ultra low-power, low-g, I2C digital interface sensor. Out-of-box tilt detection sensor saves setup time and a temperature range of -40 to +85 °C.

You can check the application note AN4296 which explains the basic settings as well as how to configure the device as a tilt sensor.

As a development board, we have the Sensor Toolbox development Platform for MMA8491 3-axis Digital Accelerometer

FXLS8471Q is a small, low-power, 3-axis, linear digital accelerometer. This sensor has dynamically selectable full-scale ranges of ±2 g/±4 g/±8 g and 14 bits of resolution. It supports SPI and I2c interfaces and embedded programable acceleration event functions like Transient Detection and Freefall and Motion Detection.

The application note AN4693 demonstrates the Transient Detection function which includes detection of shake or tilt along an axis.

In the Software & Tools section, we mention the evaluation boards available for this sensor.

MMA8451Q is a smart, low-power, capacitive, micromachined accelerometer with 14-bit resolution. It has three embedded channels of motion detection as well as two programable pins for seven interrupt sources. It communicates using I2C and comes in a 16-pin QFN package.

You can check the extended list of application notes that can help to use this sensor as well as the evaluation boards available in the link.

MMA8452Q shares almost the same features as the MMA8451Q, but this sensor has a 12-bit resolution. It is also low-power, capacitive, micromachined accelerometer which communicates through I2C. It has three embedded channels of motion detection as well as two programmable pins for six interrupt sources.

You can check the extended list of application notes that can help to use this sensor as well as the evaluation boards available in the link.

MMA8453Q shares almost the same features as the MMA8451Q and MMA8452Q, but this sensor has a 10-bit resolution. It is also low-power, capacitive, micromachined accelerometer which communicates through I2C. It has three embedded channels of motion detection as well as two programmable pins for six interrupt sources.

You can check the extended list of application notes that can help to use this sensor as well as the evaluation boards available in the link.

I hope this information can be helpful. I invite you to check the documentation to know more about these products. Any question you may have please let us know.

Have a great day,

Paulina

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Measuring tilt and shock

Re: Measuring tilt and shock