“MEMS sensors are not just for human-machine interfaces anymore,” said Wayne Chavez, operations manager for consumer and industrial sensors at Freescale (Austin, Texas), in reference to the use of MEMS accelerometers to change a smartphone’s orientation from portrait to landscape. “Our new Xtrinsic pressure sensor uses smart algorithms to derive altitude from barometric pressure readings, to locate pedestrians for both location based services, and for safety applications, like e911, where authorities might want to find people who are in trouble, perhaps even unconscious.”