Method and device for contactless sensing rotation and angular position using orientation tracking

A method for sensing rotation and angular position using a plurality of magnetic field sensing elements on a single integrated circuit comprising the iteratively tracking of the orientation of an rotating movable magnetic target by cyclic performed steps:

• i. separating a 360° sensors carrying area into two halves, calculating the summation signal of the magnetic sensing elements in the first half and subtracting the summation signal of the magnetic sensing elements in the second half of the area;
• ii. turning the separation axis by 360°/(2*n) clockwise or counter clockwise depending on the result of i., wherein n represents the number of the iterative steps performed for a certain aimed resolution, starting with n=2, and adding and subtracting the signal values of the new half-areas accordingly after the virtual turning;
• iii. repeating step ii. with increasing n=n+1 as long as an amplitude of a remaining misalignment is below a threshold which is a function of the number of used magnetic sensing elements, the remaining misalignment being associated with a corresponding difference of the summation signals of the two half-areas, each iterative step reduces the angular distance of tracking;
• and
• iv. performing an A/D conversion on the remaining misalignment.