New magnetic position sensors forcel in safety-critical automotive applications

Highly integrated systems-on-chip, all magnetic rotary position sensors from ams incorporate Hall magnetic sensing elements, an analog front end and digital signal processing to produce accurate and precise angle measurements. The new 60 Series sensors – the AS5161 and AS5261 (with a digital PWM output) and the AS5162 and AS5262 (with analog voltage output) – now also feature automotive protection features that enable vehicle manufacturers to achieve ISO26262 compliance in safety-critical applications.

The rigorous ISO26262 standard for automotive functional safety requires vehicle manufacturers to achieve high levels of reliability, to analyze the effects of the failure modes of components and systems, and to take measures to guarantee functional safety in the event of a predictable failure.

The 60 Series sensors enable manufacturers to achieve ISO26262 compliance by offering very high reliability, comprehensive analysis of the effects of direct and indirect dangerous faults, and very low Failure In Time (FIT) rates. Dual stacked dice (single package) versions, which are fully redundant, the AS5261 and AS5262 sensors can be used in applications requiring the highest ASIL D safety grading.

ams has also enabled enhanced self-diagnostic capabilities in this new generation of automotive position sensors. For example, they can detect a failed input voltage, and the broken ground detection feature with pull-down resistor operates even at high temperatures, unlike in competitive products.

With this new generation of sensors, ams has also implemented a number of power-saving features, resulting in leading-edge efficiency. While the 60 Series devices typically draw a 10mA supply current, many competitive devices draw more than 15mA.