austriamicrosystems' intros low-power high-resolution magnetic rotary encoder IC

UNTERPREMSTAETTEN, AUSTRIA: austriamicrosystems has announced the AS5055 magnetic rotary encoder with automatic power-down and wake-up modes.

Targeted for low-power battery operated applications such as robotics, the AS5055 is also well suited for other position sensing applications requiring small size and high resolution. The AS5055 integrates four Hall sensor elements, a 12-bit angle encoder, a smart power management controller and an easy-to-use 3- or 4-wire SPI communications interface.

Housed in a small 4x4 mm QFN package, the low-power encoder is the smallest device in its class. Depending on the readout rate, the current consumption is reduced to uA-levels, e.g. 50uA average at 10 measurements per second – the lowest in the industry.

Only a few passive components and a magnet rotating above the chip are necessary to assemble the encoder systems. The AS5055 performs all angle calculations as well as automatic power-up and power-down on–chip. It only draws current, when a new measurement is requested by the host controller. As soon as the acquisition of a measurement is completed, the AS5055 automatically suspends to power-down.

Josef Janisch, product marketing manager at austriamicrosystems, stated: “This is the industry’s smallest 12-bit magnetic rotary encoder available. It also offers the lowest power consumption due to automatic shutdown and wake-up modes. This is ideal for battery equipment, as it extends battery life. In addition, the industry standard SPI interface offers an easy-to-use connection to common microcontrollers.”

The AS5055 is available in a tiny 4x4 mm 16-pin QFN package, operates from a 3.3 volt power supply, and has an ambient operating temperature range of -20 to +85°C.

Available now, the price for the AS5055 is 1.92 € (that’s $2.69 USD) in 10,000-piece quantities.