Monolithic 360 degrees rotary position sensor IC [automotive applications]

Many automotive applications require accurate, reliable, safe, versatile and cost effective position sensors. The X-by-wire trend and electronic stability programs (ESP/spl reg/) are an illustration of this continuously growing need. Programmable linear Hall sensors have strongly contributed to the emergence of non-contacting rotary position sensors but two major drawbacks limit their spread: the thermal performance characteristics and the limited angular stroke. The presented Hall sensor IC eliminates those drawbacks while conserving or improving the other advantages of the conventional, programmable linear Hall sensor. The sensor front-end is based on the Triaxis/spl trade/ Hall technology and provides two signals in quadrature (sine and cosine) when a ring magnet rotates above the IC. The digitized signals are further processed through a DSP core, computing the angular information (CoRDiC i.e. arctangent of the signals quotient). The presented sensor is a fully programmable monolithic CMOS IC, allowing a versatile and cost effective solution.