EDN’s 20th annual Innovation Awards Finalists
-- EDN, February 18, 2010
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&& PREVIOUS FINALIST | MAIN | NEXT FINALIST >> Category: Sensors Finalist: AS5011 Hall-effect magnetic-encoder IC, austriamicrosystems  Improving the interface between humans and electronic equipment is a never-ending quest. Simplicity, ease-of-use, cost, and size are all important, but reliability is paramount. Current touch control technologies include trackball, potentiometer, optical, and Hall-effect magnetic encoders. The AS5011 from austriamicrosystems is a complete single-chip, two-dimensional magnetic encoder IC that monitors a magnet’s displacement relative to its center position and provides position information via I2C outputs. It includes five integrated Hall sensing elements for detecting up to ±2-mm lateral displacement, a high-resolution 12-bit ADC, XY coordinate and motion detection engine, and a smart power management controller. The on-chip processing engine frees system designers from having to integrate complex S/W algorithms on their host processor and reduces development time. The AS5011 can replace other touch sensors in cell phones, PNDs, Netbooks, game joysticks, and remote controls. The AS5011’s contactless magnetic technology makes it very reliable: it’s not affected by dust, humidity, ambient light, or nearby magnetic fields. To best demonstrate the AS5011, the EasyPoint joystick module provides a mechanical stack incorporating a navigation knob with a magnet and the AS5011 IC. Its simple construction and contactless sensing technique offer very high mechanical reliability and supports true 360° range of movement, with a module height as low as 1.8 mm. Demo video at www.austriamicrosystems.com/MagneticEncoder/AS5011. |
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