editor's blog
Subscribe Now

A Mobile Environment Sensor

Bosch Sensortec recently announced a new environmental sensor, the BME680. It actually builds on prior devices. The first was simply pressure and temperature; the next added humidity; and the BME680 adds gas sensing to that.

 BME680.pngWe’ve looked at a variety of ways to do analyte detection in the past, so I was curious as to which of those Bosch used in this device.

And the answer is: none of the above.

The humidity is detected by a polymer that adsorbs water and affects a capacitance; then again, that’s not what’s new in this device.

The gas sensing is not as specific as what we’ve looked at. It’s a single membrane onto which a number of different analytes can adsorb. I wasn’t able to get much more detail than that; in general, they detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and alcohol. It’s a consumer-friendly sensor that doesn’t give specific numbers for specific gasses; it simply says whether or not there’s an issue with the air. It’s driven by the indoor air quality (IAQ) guidelines that regulatory bodies issue.

So while it may not be as selective or specific as what some of the other techniques provide, it is targeted at mobile devices, so size (3-mm square) and low power are key deliverables. And, realistically, it’s unlikely that most phone users would do much with specific analyte numbers anyway.

You can get more detail from their announcement.

 

(Image courtesy Bosch Sensortec.)

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Jul 1, 2025
I don't know which of these videos is better: humans playing games with water pixels or robots playing games....

Libby's Lab

Libby's Lab - Scopes out Eaton EHBSA Aluminum Organic Polymer Capacitors

Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Eaton

Join Libby and Demo in this episode of “Libby’s Lab” as they explore the Eaton EHBSA Aluminum Organic Polymer Capacitors, available at Mouser.com! These capacitors are ideal for high-reliability and long life in demanding applications. Keep your circuits charged and your ideas sparking!

Click here for more information

featured paper

Agilex™ 3 vs. Certus-N2 Devices: Head-to-Head Benchmarking on 10 OpenCores Designs

Sponsored by Altera

Explore how Agilex™ 3 FPGAs deliver up to 2.4× higher performance and 30% lower power than comparable low-cost FPGAs in embedded applications. This white paper benchmarks real workloads, highlights key architectural advantages, and shows how Agilex 3 enables efficient AI, vision, and control systems with headroom to scale.

Click to read more

featured chalk talk

Versatile S32G3 Processors for Automotive and Beyond
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton and Brian Carlson from NXP investigate NXP’s S32G3 vehicle network processors that combine ASIL D safety, hardware security, high-performance real-time and application processing and network acceleration. They explore how these processors support many vehicle needs simultaneously, the specific benefits they bring to autonomous drive and ADAS applications, and how you can get started developing with these processors today.
Jul 24, 2024
92,012 views