SparkFun Triple Axis Accelerometer Breakout - ADXL362

Jargon buster

Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.

breakout

A breakout board carries a small or fine-pitched component and brings its connections out to standard, breadboard- and header-friendly pins. Describing a part as a breakout means it can be wired into a project without soldering directly to the component's tiny contacts.

LSB

Least significant bit (LSB) is the lowest-order bit in a binary number, the bit that some serial protocols send first or last. In analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue converters, one LSB also means the smallest step the device can resolve, equal to its full-scale range divided by the number of steps.

MEMS accelerometer

A tiny motion sensor made using micro-electromechanical systems technology that measures acceleration and tilt. In a compass module, it helps correct the heading when the board is not perfectly flat.

SPI

A fast serial communication bus often used for displays, memory cards, and sensors. It matters because SPI devices need specific pins for clock and data, plus a separate chip-select line for each device.