New Industry Products

Peripheral Sensor Interface 5 Reduces Automotive Sensor System Costs

June 26, 2019 by Paul Shepard

Melexis has announced the MLX90373, part of the Triaxis® rotary and linear Hall Effect position sensor family and the first Triaxis® angle sensor to offer support for the PSI5 interface.

The PSI5 (Peripheral Sensor Interface 5) is an open standard based on the technology used in millions of air bag safety systems. This highly responsive technology delivers a data bit rate of 125kbit/s over a 2-wire unshielded cable, making it suitable for a wide number of automotive sensing applications now applied to safety and comfort, such as steering and chassis ride height measurement. The 2-wire implementation makes it simpler and fundamentally less costly to deploy than other forms of serial interface that require 3- or 4-wire cabling.

The MLX90373 Triaxis® Hall Effect sensor offers both rotary and linear position sensing in a robust design that simplifies the magnetics' design for the manufacturer. The extended ambient temperature of -40℃ to +125℃, on-chip diagnostic features and a gateway input for external sensors are combined in a design that offers all the benefits of the PSI5 interface, including flexibility when using the four time-slots available, along with provision for additional external sensor data to be added to the payload.

Recommended for you: 3A AEC-Q100 Switching Regulator can Operate from 24V Battery

Nick Czarnecki, Global Marketing Manager Position and Speed Sensors at Melexis, said: "The MLX90373 is a great step forward for the 3rd Generation Triaxis® family, as it delivers all of the benefits of our industry-leading 3D sensing technology to a new implementation paradigm, one that can help lower the cost of adoption for more automotive manufacturers and the advantages that offers their end customers."

As with all Triaxis® sensors, the MLX90373 has been developed to support PCB-less mounting and offers excellent EMC performance. It also meets the requirements for ISO 26262 ASIL C (SEOoC) and is offered in a dual-die, fully redundant version in a TSSOP-16 package. The option of choosing the PSI5 interface means the Triaxis® rotary and linear Hall Effect sensor family now covers PSI5, PWM, Analog and SENT interfaces.

Now in its third generation, Melexis' Triaxis® technology continues to evolve, by combining the latest industry-standard interfaces with a high level of integration, along with the flexibility and robustness that automotive manufacturers require in order to provide the latest safety and comfort features to consumers.