Analog Devices' new IMU is not for the stingy hobbyist

Analog Devices has a new inertial measurement unit, the ADIS16480, featuring 10 degrees of freedom and incorporating sensor fusion using kalman filters. The 10 DOF come from a 3-axis gyro, a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis magnetometer and an altimeter, all available over a SPI interface.

However what is sure to keep this out of the hands of hobbyists and away from your Arduino project is the price tag. Budgetary pricing for 1000pcs is an impressive 1545.00USD and even the "low cost" little brother (ADIS16448) is close to half a grand at 1k quantities. Ouch. 

Full press release after the jump.

Panasonic's long range PIR motion sensors are frugal with their energy

Passive infrared sensors (PIRs) are commonly used for motion detection in applications like burglar alarms,  automatic lighting fixtures and more recently in occupancy detection. 

Panasonic's "PaPIRs" line of  PIR sensors are small in size and have a detection range of 12m and a wide detection angle. However what makes them interesting is that they consume as low as 1.6uA of current from 3.3V whilst actively detecting any motion. This means that a single coin cell could theoretically power the sensor for a ridiculous 15 years. They're also extremely easy to use as the only output is a single digital line indicating detected motion. We can imagine these being used up in some wireless motion sensing applications where battery life is crucial.

Panasonic doesn't mention pricing details, but they are available from for example Digikey with prices around 20USD for single pieces of the lowest power model. 

More: Panasonic PaPIRs