The next time you crash your expensive car in India and the airbag inflates in time to save you from a definite trip to the yonder, you probably need to thank Analog Devices for its microelectrical mechanical systems.
MEMS, pioneered by Analog, is a technology where mechanical components are integrated on a silicon chip.
The technology has been evolving globally and has applications in the automotive sector especially in anti-theft devices and airbags.
The device that actually helps in setting off alarms in anti-theft devices and in air-bags is called an accelerometer which uses MEMS.
Ashok Kamath, managing director, Analog Devices India, said, "As a company we have shipped out 100 million accelerometers worldwide and have 35 per cent market share in the air-bag segment."
In India, the company expects to do well with its accelerometers in the security segment.
"One can utilise the accelerometer technology in a security device. This will cost only about several hundred rupees and there is a huge potential market for this," Kamath said.
"If accelerometers are introduced into security devices for automobiles then the reliability of the devices will definitely go up more than a couple of notches," Kamath said.
Additionally, the company is bullish on another new technology re-innovation - the gyroscope.
Previously used only exclusively in airlines for navigational purposes, the new gyroscope developed by Analog is helping cars and buses find their way without the aid of costly global positioning systems.
Analog has developed what is probably the first gyroscope on a chip. If produced in volumes the gyroscopes could sell for less than Rs 1,000.
The gyroscope on a chip will probably aid engineers design cars that steer accurately and direction systems that can work even when they do not have the aid of any GPS satellite signals either.
Kamath expects Indian automobile companies to become customers sooner rather than later what with most of the MNC auto companies already having a base in India.
"Most multinational automobile companies have set up bases in India and their R&D departments are also coming in. I expect Analog to work closely with them either in India or abroad and help introduce this new technology in India," Kamath points out.
Gyroscopes could even be used to deploy side airbags now found on many expensive cars such as the Mercedes Benz.
When a car begins to roll over, the gyroscope can in an instant detect the shift in angular momentum and signal the airbags to expand.
It can also be used to prevent rollovers. The chip can be used in a system that can detect when a car enters a turn at a very high speed and the system can automatically activate the brakes and slow down the speed of the car.
Such systems are already used on certain cars, but today they use bulky gyroscopes based on vibrating quartz crystals.
But with Analog being able to bring the gyroscope onto a chip it can make these systems affordable to be deployed in any make of a car.