linux-drivers/
drivers/iio/imu

MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors

A collection of drivers for MEMS inertial measurement units — chips that combine accelerometers, gyroscopes, and sometimes magnetometers to report motion and orientation. They appear in drones, robots, industrial gear, vehicles, wearables, phones, and laptops, covering parts from Analog Devices, Bosch, InvenSense, ST, NXP, and Kionix that are still in volume production.

keep conf=0.90 deploy=medium replacement=none subsystem=iio category=sensor-iio
90%

recommendation

It should stay because this directory is an active umbrella for current-generation 6- and 9-axis IMUs from Analog Devices, Bosch, InvenSense/TDK, ST, NXP, and Kionix — many of which (such as the ADIS16550, ST LSM6DSV32X, and InvenSense ICM-45600) are still sold for new designs in 2025. Upstream activity is healthy, with new-chip enablement and runtime-power-management fixes landing through 2025 and into 2026.

repository signals

99 files
39,114 source lines
361 commits, 5y
+21,242 / −3,381 lines added / removed, 5y
99 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 361 total · active in 58/61 months
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2021-04: 12 commits · +564 −50 2021-05: 5 commits · +16 −37 2021-06: 5 commits · +58 −48 2021-07: 1 commit · +1 −2 2021-08: 3 commits · +22 −44 2021-09: 9 commits · +54 −57 2021-10: 1 commit · +4 −2 2021-11: 3 commits · +7 −5 2021-12: 0 commits · +0 −0 2022-01: 8 commits · +87 −58 2022-02: 6 commits · +18 −20 2022-03: 2 commits · +38 −8 2022-04: 6 commits · +101 −98 2022-05: 5 commits · +5 −5 2022-06: 4 commits · +20 −16 2022-07: 0 commits · +0 −0 2022-08: 4 commits · +10 −49 2022-09: 6 commits · +2,516 −27 2022-10: 5 commits · +321 −88 2022-11: 12 commits · +227 −45 2022-12: 6 commits · +79 −13 2023-01: 11 commits · +114 −27 2023-02: 2 commits · +81 −11 2023-03: 2 commits · +20 −4 2023-04: 2 commits · +19 −1 2023-05: 4 commits · +64 −38 2023-06: 5 commits · +143 −433 2023-07: 3 commits · +4 −3 2023-08: 2 commits · +146 −20 2023-09: 3 commits · +29 −0 2023-10: 7 commits · +2,665 −55 2023-11: 3 commits · +76 −49 2023-12: 3 commits · +6 −8 2024-01: 5 commits · +36 −64 2024-02: 9 commits · +147 −30 2024-03: 5 commits · +601 −89 2024-04: 5 commits · +219 −58 2024-05: 17 commits · +1,154 −219 2024-06: 8 commits · +315 −158 2024-07: 7 commits · +8 −11 2024-08: 9 commits · +218 −138 2024-09: 16 commits · +514 −84 2024-10: 16 commits · +1,240 −51 2024-11: 6 commits · +141 −6 2024-12: 5 commits · +69 −69 2025-01: 1 commit · +43 −5 2025-02: 9 commits · +1,503 −96 2025-03: 10 commits · +87 −92 2025-04: 5 commits · +54 −43 2025-05: 8 commits · +79 −57 2025-06: 12 commits · +1,003 −260 2025-07: 3 commits · +36 −29 2025-08: 7 commits · +22 −48 2025-09: 6 commits · +437 −167 2025-10: 13 commits · +5,294 −37 2025-11: 3 commits · +2 −2 2025-12: 12 commits · +454 −216 2026-01: 4 commits · +13 −6 2026-02: 9 commits · +33 −15 2026-03: 1 commit · +5 −10 2026-04: 0 commits · +0 −0

sources

  1. lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org

    The directory still sees active upstream maintenance in 2025, e.g. a multi-patch inv_icm42600 runtime-PM fix series.

  2. lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org

    The subsystem was still gaining new hardware enablement in 2025, e.g. the Bosch SMI330 driver series.

  3. analog.com

    Analog Devices lists ADIS16550 as 'Recommended for New Designs', showing at least one supported IMU family is still sold for new designs.

  4. st.com

    ST lists LSM6DSV32X as 'Active' and 'Product is in volume production', indicating continued new-deployment relevance for supported ST IMUs.

  5. cateee.net

    LKDDb shows inv_icm45600 SPI support in recent kernels (6.19 and 7.0), evidence that this directory covers current-generation IMUs rather than only legacy parts.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile shows this is an umbrella driver directory for many active IMU families (ADI ADIS, Bosch BMI/SMI, InvenSense ICM/MPU, ST LSM*, NXP FXOS, Kionix KMX61), not a single obsolete device line. Local git log shows substantive fixes/additions through 2026-03-09, matching the provided activity stats. No removal/deprecation thread surfaced in the lore web lookups I ran; instead, web search found active 2025 patch traffic and new-driver work. Because hardware covered here is still on sale and upstream attention is current, this should be kept. Source acquisition: both lore URLs and vendor/LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search results; local activity assessment came from shell commands against the source tree.