austriamicrosystems AS5050 magnetic rotary encoder IC

austriamicrosystems has launched the AS5050 10-bit magnetic rotary encoder IC for contactless position sensing, featuring what is claimed to be the lowest power consumption and smallest size.

Incorporating automatic power-down and wake-up modes, the encoder is targeted for low-power applications such as robotics and is also suitable for servo motor control and as an input device for low-cost, battery-operated appliances.

The single-chip device integrates four Hall sensor elements, a 10-bit angle encoder, a smart power management controller and a 3- or 4-wire SPI communications interface.

Depending on the readout rate, the current consumption is reduced to µA levels. For example, 50 µA at 10 measurements per second is the typical current drain.

The encoder performs all angle calculations on chip, features on-chip automatic wake-up and power down and only draws current when a new measurement is requested by the host controller. It automatically powers down as soon as a measurement is completed.

The device operates from a 3.3 V supply over an ambient operating temperature range of -40 to 85°C.