Pavel Horsky

LC oscillator driver for safety critical applications [automotive applications]

A CMOS harmonic signal LC oscillator driver, for automotive applications, working in a harsh environment with high safety critical requirements, is described. The driver can be used with a wide range of external component parameters (LC resonance network of a sensor). The quality factor of the external LC network can vary over two decades. Amplitude regulation of the driver is digitally controlled and the DAC is constructed as exponential with piece-wise-linear (PWL) approximation. Low current consumption for high quality resonance networks is achieved. The realized oscillator is robust, used in safety critical applications, and has low EMC emissions.

Introduction to EMC simulations of analog ICs

Electromagnetic compatibility is an important performance meter of any modern IC design. This paper describes methods on how to simulate and evaluate the ICs electromagnetic susceptibility and electromagnetic emissions performance at the IC level in a SPICE simulator. It is intended as a short tutorial to the IC EMC simulations mainly for mixed signal ASICs.

An Inductive Position Sensor ASIC

A principle and realization of an ASIC for a fast, precise, and high resolution Contact-less Inductive Position Sensor (CIPOS), is described. The inductive contact-less sensor is suitable for angular or linear position sensing. Advantage of used measurement principle is, that it is strictly ratio metric independent of absolute values. The mechanical robustness, insensitivity to temperature variation, electrical or magnetic fields as well as its mechanical tolerances make the sensor ideal for harsh automotive environment. The sensor fulfils all the requirements for safety relevant applications. The presented ASIC includes sensor excitation, precise input signal analog and digital processing as well as the output signal transmitter. The signal path and main blocks are described.