BHI385 Smart IMU Breakout

BHI385 Smart IMU Breakout is built around Bosch Sensortec's BHI385, a 6-axis IMU with a 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope, plus an onboard 32-bit ARC EM4 processor running Bosch's BSX sensor fusion firmware. Instead of raw accelerometer and gyroscope samples, the chip outputs virtual sensors directly: 3D orientation, step count, tap detection, and wrist gesture recognition, without putting any of that processing load on the host microcontroller. A Soldered Arduino library is available to read these outputs directly.

The board runs from a 3.3V supply. An onboard LDO regulates that down to the 1.8V the BHI385 needs, and an onboard I2C level shifter handles the translation between the 3.3V logic side and the chip's 1.8V domain, so no external components are required. It communicates over I2C at up to 400 kHz, with a default address of 0x29; to switch to 0x28, remove the solder bridge on JP5 from the 0x29 pad and resolder it onto the 0x28 pad.

The accelerometer covers ±4 to ±32 g and the gyroscope covers ±125 to ±2000 dps, both software-selectable. Current draw is about 5 µA in sleep mode, 200 µA with only the accelerometer running, and 1.4 mA with the accelerometer and gyroscope both active. The board measures 23 x 23 mm, with two mounting holes sized for M3 screws.