Unterpremstaetten, Austria and Boston, MA – March 1, 2011: austriamicrosystems’ 3D Hall encoder IC has been selected from hundreds of nominations to be a finalist for this year’s EDN Innovation Awards. The AS54xx series is one of four finalists in the passive components, sensors, indicators and interconnects category. The AS54xx 3D Hall encoder was recognized for its capability of providing high resolution angular or linear output data.

"The strength of this technology is the ability to provide true 3-axis differential measurement of the magnetic field for absolute linear, off/on-axis and three-dimensional tilt sensor applications", said Eric Janson, senior vice president sales and marketing at austriamicrosystems. "Being nominated as a finalist by the editors of EDN affirms the real innovative design that went into the AS54xx series."

The AS54xx 3D encoder series makes use of a three-dimensional Hall element to provide absolute and high resolution angular or linear output data. This flexibility enables new solutions for industrial and automotive applications, including linear position measurement, off-/on-axis rotation measurement and multi-axis joysticks. The AS54xx series uses two "pixel cells" in a differential mode to guarantee robustness against external influences such as stray magnetic fields. The IC also contains an EEPROM to provide flexibility to systems designers when programming and linearizing the IC. For further information on the AS54xx 3D Hall Encoder IC series please visit www.ams.com/AS5400.

The EDN Innovation Award voting site is www.EDN.com/innovation21. Voting is open until March 31, 2011.