Microstrain Inc.'s MEMS-based orientation
sensor for monitoring and treating paralyzed limbs fell onto
the radar screen of military organizations this year. Now,
Microstrain’s newest product, the 3DM-G orientation sensor, has been deployed by
the U.S. Navy for unmanned aerial vehicles.
“Our 3DM-G is a good example of a sensor that taps into the
best characteristics of different MEMS-sensing technologies,”
said Steven Arms, president of the Burlington, Vt.-based
company. Microstrain has slapped together nine sensors
bolstered by proprietary software running on a microprocessor.
By complementing the strengths and weaknesses of the different
kinds of sensors on the board, Microstrain says it has
delivered a low-cost, high-function sensor.
At the Sensors Expo in May in San Jose, Calif., this
product walked away with a gold award in the best sensor
category.
Arms founded Microstrain in 1987 while developing knee
sensor implants for his master’s thesis at the University of
Vermont. “In the late '90s, as MEMS sensors became
increasingly available for sensing other parameters, such as
acceleration, angular rate and low level magnetic fields, we
employed them in concert with microprocessors to produce smart
sensors,” Arms said.
MicroStrain’s sophisticated sensor technology is used in
medical instruments, monitoring of civil structures – such as
bridges, dams and buildings – and aerospace. In the automotive
industry, MicroStrain's Linear Displacement Transducers
provide feedback for electronic valve control in automotive
engines, an advance that will do away with camshafts and allow
more precise control of valve timing, the company said. International Truck and Engine Corp. uses these
sensors in its prototype engines.
In the medical field, MicroStrain has applied its sensor
technology to build enhanced miniaturized implantable ligament
strain sensors for the University of Vermont and biomedical
researchers. MicroStrain's MEMS-based inclinometers and
orientation sensing modules, which were originally designed
for feedback for the re-animation of paralyzed limbs, are now
being used by the U.S. Navy.
According to Paul Turner, industry analyst at Venture Development Corp., Microstrain is ahead
of the game in the next evolution of a MEMS industry thus far
dominated by single-product companies that first build the
product, then seek the customer.
“The next step, as the competition starts to pick up, is to
go for greater integration of devices to address customer
needs,” Turner said.
“By taking existing MEMS technology and adding their
expertise, what companies like Microstrain are doing is
helping to create an interest in MEMS technology,” said Marlene Bourne, a MEMS analyst at In-Stat/MDR.
Microstrain says its focus on the customer has vastly
multiplied its MEMS and non-MEMS sensor product lines across
the medical, automotive and, now, the military industries. Its
next challenges are in hiring and training more staff to match
the demand.
Until now the company has liked its low profile – a
13-person company enjoying 20 percent growth per year.
“Microstrain seems to be growing organically along with the
market. If something goes wrong, they’ll be in a better
position to respond with this strategy,” Turner said.
After two infusions of money from Small Business
Innovations Research grants, Microstrain has steadily ploughed
back its profits into the company over 10 years.
Roger Grace, president of Roger Grace
Associates, a San Francisco-based marketing consulting
firm specializing in high technology, commends Microstrain’s
approach. “There’s something to be said about growing by
profitability. The get-rich-quick scheme really doesn’t help
the MEMS and nanotechnology industry gain stability and
credibility.”
Company file: Microstrain
Inc.
(last updated July 8,
2002)
Company
Microstrain Inc.
Headquarters
294 N. Winooski Ave.
Burlington, VT, 05401-3680
History
Steven Arms founded the company
following research he did as part of his 1987 master’s thesis
at the University of Vermont. He was investigating the strain
behavior of the human knee and researching microscopic devices
for implantation into the knee. “Things needed to be small and
we had to develop something that would work in a wet
environment,” said Arms. MEMS technology, he said, is a
natural extension of the "small culture" of his company.
Management
Steven Arms: president
Chris
Townsend: executive vice president of engineering
Employees
13
Investment history
Small Business Innovation
Research awards and other grants have totaled more than $2.8
million.
Barriers
Microstrain says that quotations are
coming so fast it does not have enough people to do follow-up
of quotes. “Our product line is so broad now that sales people
who support them have to know enough about a lot of things,”
says Arms.
Competitors
Crossbow Technology
BEI Systron-Donner
Watson Industries Inc.
Selected small tech product
An orientation
sensor, 3DM-G, uses MEMS sensors and a microprocessor.
It was originally designed for a medical application; it has
now been deployed by the U.S. Navy.
How small tech is used
The combination of
multiple MEMs sensors with proprietary software algorithms
(running on tiny microprocessors) has helped Microstrain
enhance performance and simplify its sensor's outputs, and
still keep things small. 3DM-G (which has 9 sensors) makes use
of the strengths and weaknesses of different MEMS sensing
technologies. “Our built-in algorithm combines these sensors’
outputs on the fly to prevent gyro drift, and to eliminate the
inertial influences on the accelerometers, which provides high
performance in both static and dynamic conditions,” said
Steven Arms, the company's president.
Selected patents
Inclined plate 360 degree absolute angle sensor
Miniaturized displacement transducer assembly
Differential variable reluctance transducer
Method of and means for implanting a pressure and
force sensing apparatus
Goals
Hiring more staff to keep up with demand
and possibly seeking investment money.
Why they're in small tech
It’s an outgrowth of
working in a medical area and having to build things that had
to be really tiny in order to work at all. “You can’t put
things inside knee joints unless they’re very small.”
What keeps them up at night
“Our puppy who is
about 14 weeks old, who likes to walk a lot,” Arms said. “We
really don’t have a lot to worry about – we have a great team,
great contracts.”
Contact
URL: http://www.microstrain.com/
Phone:
802-862-6629
Fax: 802-863-4093
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