subject: Accelerometer and its Several Possibilities [print this page] Accelerometer and its Several Possibilities
One must have observed certain devices such as iTouch, which responds with a flip-like function when the user moves his/her fingers across. If the functionality ensures a cool' experience for the user, the technology behind is the accelerometer. The accelerometer in general tracks the movement or the tilt of the device with respect to a reference axis. The iTouch accelerometer uses the variations in electrical current along with silicon mass and spring to track its own movement. The silicon springs gauges the movement of the current through the silicon mass.
By doing so, it measures the position of the silicon mass and causes a corresponding fluctuation in the electrical current. To summarize the process - when the silicon moves, the silicon spring tracks it and changes the electrical current, which results in a different signal being sent to the iTouch device indicating it to make a corresponding change. An example of a change can be a change of display from the landscape mode to the portrait mode and vice-versa. More advanced applications also exist that use the accelerometer for its functioning. The latest iTouch version is equipped with a much faster touch screen and an accelerometer. So to speak, the enhancement isn't just in terms of utility but also in terms of performance and efficiency of the same system.
More about accelerometer
Several applications can be programmed keeping in mind the working of the accelerometer. For example, applications of J2ME and accelerometer (i.e. software and hardware) can work in tandem to produce a different application. For example, the movement of legs during workouts can be tracked using an accelerometer and can be stored in the software for future use. That is just an example and one can expect a lt of such utilities to be available in the market or in the near future. J2me is a platform that aims at small embedded and wireless devices which have memory limitations. Programs in Java can be written by the developers easily. J2me, due to its inherent advantages such as reliability, platform independency, robust security, friendly user interface and so on has emerged as a popular technology for developers.
With 3G coming into the market, one can expect a lot of application that makes use of features of 3G and accelerometer.
