Compact multi-gas sensor fits wearables

Based on metal oxide (MOX) technology with four sensor elements, the multi-gas sensor enables wearables and portable devices with a small battery to perform continuous air quality monitoring.

This multi-gas sensor is an ideal choice for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, consumer home appliances, building automation, and HVAC applications.

In addition, thanks to its compact 3 mm x 3 mm x 0.9 mm size and low power consumption, air quality monitoring can be offered as a feature in wearable devices, such as activity trackers and sports wristbands, smartwatches and smart glasses.

The sensor enables the detection of a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with superior sensitivity, including ethanol, hydrogen, toluene, and oxidizing gasses.

It supports both a low-power mode with 700 µA average current consumption and an ultra-low-power mode with 150µA average current consumption.

The digital MOX multi-gas sensor includes on-chip algorithms to process raw sensor measurements, calculating TVOC- and CO₂-equivalents.

On-chip algorithms are capable of calculating a variety of air quality indices (AQIs), in addition to performing humidity and temperature compensation.

The ScioSense ENS161 multi-gas sensor is supported by the ENS161EVALKITV1 evaluation kit.

It comprises a break-out board with a pre-mounted ENS161 sensor and support circuitry. The board can be connected to a PC via a USB cable.

A graphic user interface (GUI), downloadable from ScioSense, enables setting the target device's parameters, stopping and starting measurement, and displaying current management and sensor data.