ATmega328 powers high-G accel sensor

Kelsec Systems has debuted the TellmeG, a high (and low) G acceleration sensor designed for measuring just about anything that quickly accelerates or decelerates including running shoes, baseball bats, tennis rackets and bikes.

The TellmeG – which provides immediate feedback via an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display – is capable of measuring acceleration up to 200 G, or 4400 mph acceleration in one second.

And although Kelsec offers ready to use software applications, users can easily reprogram the unlocked platform, which is powered by Atmel’s versatile ATmega328 microcontroller (MCU).

Additional key specs and features include:

• On-board 16Mbit Flash.
• OLED Display (128X32 pixels).
• Three-Axis (X,Y,Z) on board accelerometers (+/-200G and +/- 16G).
• Accelerometer (200G) data rate: 1kHz.
• MCU flashing via ISP programmer (external port provided) and custom cable.
• Data-logging capabilities for review and analysis.
• Rechargeable lithium-polymer battery (via USB cable).
• Sleep mode to conserve power.
• Battery monitoring IC for maintaining the LIPO battery.

“The TellmeG is unlike any existing measuring instrument and the potential applications are endless. The range of this sensor goes far beyond typical accelerometers found in popular smartphones (usually 2G to 8G at most),” Kelsec founder Gerald Plamondon explained in a recent Kickstarter post.

“Currently, five versions of application code for the TellmeG sensor have been developed and tested for: baseball, running, tennis, mountain biking and impact/landing. All five are available to choose from, depending on your needs. We plan on developing more applications in the near future.”

On the software side, devs and Maker can use a custom ISP cable and ISP programmer tool such as Atmel’s ATAVRISP2 to install new software for TellmeG sensor. Users can also write their own code for the TellmeG sensor with Arduino or C++ programming.

“We will publish all code so you will have a head start in developing custom code. All you will need is the Advanced Kit or the Super Advanced kit, which includes a custom cable for ISP programming of the microcontroller,” Plamondon added.

Interested in learning more about the Atmel-powered TellmeG? You can check out the project’s official Kickstarter page here.