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Description
Low-cost MEMS accelerometers are widely employed in embedded sensing, industrial monitoring, automotive electronics, and Industry 4.0 systems because of their low cost, compactness, and ease of integration. However, in dynamic applications, practical deployment requires more than nominal datasheet specifications. The key question is whether the sensor remains fit for purpose over the frequency band of interest under assigned measurement-quality requirements. This work proposes an acceptance-based, application-oriented procedure for determining the usable dynamic bandwidth of low-cost tri-axial MEMS accelerometers under controlled multi-g sinusoidal excitation, by translating experimental dynamic-response evidence into deployment-oriented suitability outcomes. Four nominally identical commercial MEMS units were tested against a reference accelerometer over the 25-800 Hz range and up to 16 g by means of stepped-amplitude harmonic excitation. The measured responses were processed to evaluate compliance with frequency-resolved acceptance criteria based on amplitude tracking quality, uncertainty, and residual dispersion. The procedure aims to identify the frequency interval over which the sensor remains acceptable under explicitly assigned measurement-quality requirements. The results show that the practically acceptable operating range is substantially narrower than what could be inferred from nominal operating specifications alone. The proposed approach provides a practical tool for conformity assessment, sensor selection, and bandwidth-aware deployment of low-cost MEMS accelerometers, while preserving an explicit link between experimental metrological evidence and application-level acceptance requirements.