Haechitech’s MXG4300 electronic compass IC is a high-sensitivity digital magnetic sensor IC for measuring terrestrial magnetism in the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis. It combines Hall elements for measuring terrestrial magnetism, sensor driving circuitry, low-noise amplifiers, a high-resolution ADC for each channel, and a control circuit for low-power computation. All this is contained within a 4-pin WLCSP (BGA) 0.8 x 0.8 x 0.5 mm package, making the device ideal for use in mobile phones, mobile GPS systems, or motion-tracking headsets. With nine operation modes, including continuous measurement at up to 200 Hz, the MXG4300 can be used not just as a sensor but as a virtual gyroscope and accelerometer in the absence of traditional physical alternatives.
The MXG4300 has an operating voltage of 1.65-1.95 V, I2C digital interface with standard and fast modes, a maximum measurable range of ±4914 µT at 0.15 µT/LSB resolution (16-bit digital output), and an operating temperature range of -30°C to +85°C. The typical power consumption during sensor operation is 2 mA with an average power consumption of 1.2 mA when operating in the 100 Hz continuous measurement mode.
The MXG4300 contains nine operation modes set by the SCTRL register OPMODE[4:0] bits. When power is turned ON, the MXG4300 is in power-down mode, which consumes a mere 1 µA; Haechitech does not count this as one of the nine modes. When a specified value is set to OPMODE[4:0], the MXG4300 transitions to the specified mode and starts operation. If the user wishes to change operation mode, they must return to power-down mode and wait for at least 100 μs before setting another.
Single-measurement mode allows for a single measurement before automatically returning to power-down mode. There are also six continuous-measurement modes, which take measurements at 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, or 200 Hz. A self-test mode is available where the sensor is self-tested and the result is output, as well as a Fuse-ROM-access mode where all data are read from the Fuse ROM automatically.
As previously stated, Haechitech have a wealth of other sensing solutions in their product range, so they created the EVK1000 evaluation board to allow users to easily access data from any of these devices. To reiterate, the EVK1000 also allows the use of several different sensor combinations for simultaneous measurement, should you decide that Haechitech sensing infrastructure serves all aspects of your application.
If I haven’t said it before, I really like Haechitech’s offerings, though I wish they had some better product images for me to use. On tiny form factor alone, I think this one is most worth a look, but I suppose I’ve still got their environmental sensors to cover…
Keep designing!
(Image sourced from Haechitech)
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