TDK collaborates with Texas Instruments on new i3 Micro Module, the world’s first sensor module with built-in edge AI and wireless mesh connectivity

• Ultracompact, battery-powered wireless multi-sensor module, facilitating the prediction of anomalies in machinery and equipment
• Integrates the TI CC2652R7 SimpleLink™ wireless MCU for real-time monitoring
• Enables ongoing global evolution toward smart factories with implementation of Condition-based Monitoring (CbM)

TDK Corporation (TSE:6762) today announced 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 SmartIndustrial^TM 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.”

Provided in a small package dimension of 56mm x 41mm x 20mm, TDK provides a system of components that enable key features within the i3 Micro Module: 

• Texas Instruments: TI CC2652R7 SimpleLink platform Arm^® Cortex^®-M4F multiprotocol 2.4-GHz wireless 32-bit Arm-based MCU.
• TDK: IIM-42352 High-performance SmartIndustrial^TM 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.