Renesas Unlocks Personalized Air Quality Experiences With Ultra-Low Power Outdoor Air Quality Sensor Platform

June 17, 2021 - RENESAS Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, expanded its popular ZMOD4510 Outdoor Air Quality (OAQ) gas sensor platform with an IP67-qualified waterproof package and a new AI-based algorithm that enables ultra-low power selective ozone measurements. The enhanced ZMOD4510 is the industry's first fully calibrated, miniature digital OAQ sensor solution with selective ozone measurement capabilities, offering visibility into the air quality in users' immediate environments for a personalized experience.

Ozone gas is a significant cause of poor outdoor air quality that poses health risks. Based on Renesas' new ultra-low-power firmware, the enhanced ZMOD4510 can detect specific ozone levels – without reporting on other pollutants – while maintaining power consumption under 200 uW. This selective measurement capability allows devices such as smartwatches, phones, and smoke detectors to monitor for harmful ozone gasses typically found outdoors but which can drift indoors through open windows and doors. Optimizing the ZMOD4510 for very low power is key to enabling the longer life cycles required for these types of battery-powered devices.

“Measuring outdoor air quality really is about location, location, location, as levels can vary dramatically from street to street and even on opposite sides of the same street,” said Uwe Guenther, Senior Director, Sensing Solutions, IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit at Renesas. “The enhanced ZMOD4510 gives manufacturers the selective high-precision sensing, ultra-small size, and long battery life they need for battery-powered devices like smartwatches and phones that offer customers a convenient and customized view of their immediate air quality environment.”

Renesas' unique software-configurable ZMOD platform provides design flexibility for smart sensing systems, which allows firmware updates in the field to enable new, application-specific capabilities such as selective ozone detection.

The ZMOD4510's ability to quantify selective Ozone levels in concentrations as low as 20 parts per billion (ppb) coupled with its low power, small size, and outstanding flexibility makes it an ideal solution for mobile and wearable devices, as well as industrial applications such as wireless security cameras and parking meters.

The new waterproof packaging allows the sensor to operate in harsh and submersible environments. The IP67-rated sensor maintains superior accuracy and high performance while eliminating the need for expensive waterproofing systems – all in a tiny 3mm×3mm×0.9mm LGA package. The sensor is shipped fully calibrated in the hydrophobic and oleophobic package, and customers can apply a conformal coating on their circuitry rather than adding an external membrane to the module.

Renesas has identified and created Winning Combination system architectures for a variety of applications where the ZMOD4510 family of products adds differentiative value to the system. For example, a new winning combination for smart lighting, “Building Automation Lighting with Air Quality Sensors Solution,” demonstrates a use case in building automation. The ZMOD4510 sensors also add another dimension to wearables such as watches. Made from mutually compatible devices that work together seamlessly, Renesas' Winning Combinations are vetted solutions engineered to help customers accelerate designs and get to market faster. Renesas offers over 200 Winning Combinations.

The ZMOD4510 is calibrated to the U.S. Environmental Agency's (EPA) Air Quality Index for measuring ozone, and is highly resistant to siloxanes, enabling exceptional reliability for use in harsh environments.