Experiencing with AMR sensor conditioning in automotive field

AMR (anisotropic magnetoresistive) sensors are versatile sensors which can be used in a wide range of automotive applications. This paper presents the development of an AMR sensor interface prototype based on the intelligent sensor interface (ISIF) and designed following the platform based design flow. The ISIF is composed by an analog front-end and a digital section. The analog section performs signal acquisition and provides stimuli to the sensor, while the digital section provides digital signal processing IPs (intellectual properties) and a 32-bit RISC (reduced instruction set) DSP (digital signal processor) for important software routines of signal processing, calibration and temperature compensation. An AMR commercial sensor, used for linear position measurement, has been chosen as case study for the verification of the overall interface prototype. Finally, system test results and performances are presented.