Analytical Development of a Four-Axis Magnetic Multimedia Control Element

Magnetic position and orientation detection systems have been penetrating the market in the last years due to their excellent properties. Specifically, the development of the cost effective 3-D Hall sensor brings new possibilities for consumer applications. In this paper, we propose a new magnetic design of a four-axis multimedia control element, which requires only a single magnet and a single 3-D Hall sensor. The development is based on an analytical model, which enables an efficient multivariate geometric optimization procedure. Optimal parameters are evaluated and discussed with respect to magnetic state separation up to several millitesla using a reasonable set of discrete rotational and tilt states. Experiments to prove the concept are presented.