Founding A Company
After exploring potential uses of silicon Microelectromechanical systems sensor technology and experimenting with early acceleration sensors from the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Sensor as well as commercial prototypes form Analog Devices, Horton and Newton decided to form a company to design and build products based on MEMS sensor technology. Crossbow Technology was founded in August, 1995. The company's initial vision was to leverage Microelectromechanical systems based sensor technology for motion-based input devices which are now popular in video game systems such as the Nintendo Wii. Horton’s first two issued patents, 5,615,132 and 5,819,206, describe a motion-based computing system, using a plurality of accelerometers.
The company further refined the technology for application in commercial aerospace, and it became the first company to be approved by the FAA as a TSO (Technical Standard Order) holder FAA for a silicon Microelectromechanical systems based Attitude and Heading Reference Systems. An AHRS provides a solid-state replacement of unreliable mechanical gyroscopes as primary flight instruments thereby increasing the safety of general aviation aircraft. The company's MEMS-based inertial systems are also used in automated guidance of farm tractors and unmanned aerial vehicle systems.
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