BMI160 self test

[peterl]

Is the self-test feature intended to be a production line feature only or can it also be used to porovide a power-on self test in situations where the sensor may be moving or handled? Is it important that the sensor is stationary during the self test?

If the sensor passes the self-test during production (after assembly) is there any data regarding the probability of failures during storage of the device?

Thank you very much

[FAE_CA1 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Thanks for your inquiry.

BMI160 built-in self-test feature is intended to be a production line feature only to check if BMI160 will work properly or not after PCB assembly. Of cause, you can run BMI160 self-test any time in the future when your device is operating. It is important that the sensor BMI160 is stationary during the self test.

If the sensor passes the self-test during production (after assembly) there should be no probability of failures during storage of the device.

Please see the attached "How to perform BMI160 self-test v1.2.pdf" for more information. Also please note that BMI160 is not recommended for new design. You can switch to BMI323 which is pin-to-pin compatible with BMI160.

Thanks.

[peterl]

Thank you!

[peterl]

One more follow-up question, if I may.

Is there any additional check you would recommend to check the operation of the accelerometer at the start of its use life in addition to a communication check and checking correct initialisation, assuming the self-test was passed in production? Unfortuantly, we cannot gurantee that the device is stationary when it is powered on.

Thank you very much!

[FAE_CA1 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Once BMI160 passes self-test in production the accelerometer and gyroscope will work properly. There are no additional checks for the sensors' operation. However, based on your application you can add your own checks. For example, if your device is dropped to ground hard surface from more than 1.8m height or higher than 2KV ESD voltage is applied to the sensor, then BMI160 may get damaged. You may not be able to talk to BMI160 through SPI or I2C interface. Or BMI160 data outputs of accelerometer or gyroscope will be fixed as a straight line, etc. Therefore, you can implement your own checks to see if the communication is working or not and if the standard deviation of accelerometer data and gyroscope data is 0 or not.

Thanks.