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Wearables

Intelligence you can wear, powered by TDK sensors

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Sensors for smarter, more intuitive wearables

Wearables bring intelligence closer to the human body. Devices like fitness bands, smartwatches, rings and more, deliver real-time insights and seamless interactions. By continuously sensing motion, orientation, sound, and context, wearables turn everyday activity into meaningful, personalized experiences.

TDK powers the next generation of wearables with a complete, ultra-low-power sensing platform spanning motion, magnetic, audio, and ultrasonic time-of-flight technologies. Our MEMS sensors and embedded software enable designers to create smaller, smarter devices with longer battery life and more intuitive human-machine interaction.

A comprehensive sensing foundation for next-gen wearables

Explore features enabled by TDK sensors
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Ultra-low power performance

Designed for always-on wearables, sensors maximize battery life without compromising accuracy or responsiveness

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Precision motion & orientation

High-accuracy motion and magnetic sensing deliver reliable tracking, navigation, and gesture control in any environment

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Edge intelligence with Machine Learning

On-chip machine learning enables accurate activity detection and reduces system complexity for faster time to market

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High fidelity audio

Ultra-low power microphones enable reliable voice commands,calls and audio experiences

Featured video

SmartMotion® TWS solution demo

Watch a demo showcasing how TWS solution enables natural movement and gestures recognition using SmartMotion sensors.

Wearables in action

Built for the next generation: from everyday wearables to enterprise XR

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Body-worn: Smart rings & health monitoring

Enable discreet, always-on health insights

Connected wearables track activity, workouts, and daily movement in real time. 

  • Monitor steps, workouts, and activity levels throughout the day 

  • Track performance with real-time feedback and coaching insights 

  • Use voice commands for hands-free control of apps and functions 

Woman in exercise outfit using smart watch

Wrist-worn: Fitness bands & smart watches

Turn everyday movement into actionable insights

Compact wearables deliver continuous health and wellness insights. 

  • Track sleep, activity, and recovery trends 

  • Control devices through simple gestures 

  • Receive alerts through vibration and motion-based interaction 

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Head-worn: AR/VR & smart glasses

Create immersive and intuitive spatial experiences

Wearable systems enable immersive and context-aware experiences. 

  • Navigate virtual environments through head tracking and motion interaction 

  • Access real-time information through augmented displays 

  • Support hands-free interaction for collaboration and guided experiences 

    Visit Smart Glasses to learn more

Core sensing technologies powering the wearable-future

Advanced motion, magnetic, audio, and time-of-flight sensing for fitness, health, and immersive applications

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SmartMotion®

Motion sensing for wearable interaction and spatial awareness

SmartMotion MEMS sensors deliver precise motion and orientation data for wearable systems, enabling responsive interaction, spatial awareness, and advanced motion analytics across next-generation platforms.

  • Enable always-on motion awareness with compact 6-axis IMUs and sensor fusion
  • Support intuitive interaction through head tracking, gesture recognition, and controller motion sensing
  • Enable navigation and immersive experiences with advanced 9-axis sensing (IMU + TMR)
  • Support vibration sensing and vocal vibration detection with VibeSense360™

 

An enlarged TDK microchip next to a classic microphone

SmartSound™

Voice and acoustic sensing for wearable voice interfaces

SmartSound™ MEMS microphones provide high-fidelity acoustic sensing for wearable systems, enabling clear voice capture, always-on sensing, and reliable human-machine interaction.

  • Enable voice interfaces with high SNR, sensitivity, and high acoustic overload point (AOP)
  • Support always-on voice sensing with Acoustic Activity Detect (AAD)
  • Integrate easily into compact wearable platforms with power-efficient, small form-factor designs
Two small TDK microchips next to a series of three classic ultrasonic sensors

SmartSonic™

Spatial awareness and proximity sensing for wearable systems

SmartSonic ultrasonic Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors add environmental awareness and spatial interaction to wearable platforms, enabling devices to detect presence, distance, and surrounding objects.

  • Enable presence detection, proximity sensing, and range finding for responsive behavior
  • Support gesture interaction, object detection, and 3D positioning
  • Enable spatial awareness for AR/VR and smart glasses experiences
Microchip next to two small magnets

SmartMagnetics

Magnetic sensing for control, positioning, and interaction

SmartMagnetics Hall and TMR sensors enable intuitive control and precise positioning across wearable devices, including smartwatches, smart rings, and AR/VR systems.

  • Enable intuitive controls such as digital crowns, buttons, dials, and rotational inputs
  • Deliver ultra-low-power magnetic sensing for precise positioning
  • Support always-on operation with long battery life and reliable performance

High-performance IMUs powering next-gen wearables

Microchip with TDK logo and "ICM-45686" etched onto its surface

ICM-45686

High-Precision 6-Axis MEMS MotionTracking® Device

The ICM-45686 is an ultra high‑performance 6‑axis MEMS motion sensor family with the world’s first BalancedGyro™ technology and lowest power consumption. The sensor combines a 3‑axis gyroscope and a 3‑axis accelerometer in a compact 2.5 × 3 × 0.81 mm package.

The BalancedGyro technology by TDK is the first‑of‑its‑kind gyroscope MEMS architecture that enables supreme vibration rejection and temperature stability performance, an enhancement never seen before in a consumer gyroscope.

ICM-45686 provides higher full-scale range upto 4000 dps and 32g, better temperature stability to reduce temperature related drift, and high-performance features such as Real Time Clock Input and 18/19 bit high-resolution FIFO.

This family offers the world’s lowest power 6‑axis motion sensor. This allows the gyroscope to be on 40% of the times more than any other gyroscope in the industry. This also offers the very first Gyroscope Low Power Mode, enabling ~200uA of 6-axis IMU current consumption, making it the top choice for wearables, hearables and any battery driven IoT application.

It has a configurable host interface that supports I3C℠, I²C and SPI serial communication, and an AUX interface that supports SPI slave mode for connection to OIS controllers or I²C master mode for connection to external sensors.

Illustration of ICU-30201, MEMS ultrasonic time-of-flight sensor

ICU-30201

High-Performance Ultra-Compact Ultrasonic Time‑of‑Flight Sensor for Ultra-Long-Range Applications

The ICU-30201 is a high-performance ultrasonic Time-of-Flight sensor that is ideal for measuring the range of objects between 30cm and 9.5m, and offers a customizable field-of-view of up to 180º. It has a sample rate of 75 samples per second at 2 meters, and 18 samples per second at 9 meters. It comes in a 5.17 × 2.68 × 0.9 mm LGA package, and includes an integrated DSP for signal processing.

Illustration of T5838, TDK MEMS microphone

T5838

Bottom Port PDM Digital Output Multi‑Mode Microphone

The T5838 is a low noise, high AOP digital Pulse Density Modulation (PDM) microphone using a fifth-order Σ‑Δ modulator. It also features Acoustic Activity Detect (AAD), a new ultra-low power edge processing feature consuming as low as 20 µA.

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Access technical articles, datasheets, and in-depth guides to accelerate your design process.

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