Cambridge Integrated Circuits Ltd
Cambridge Integrated Circuits Ltd is a fabless semiconductor company located in Cambridge, UK. We develop novel contactless sensing solutions that help our customers build innovative electromechanical systems.
We provide technology for measuring the position of parts inside machines. Our novel technology is called "resonant inductive position sensing". This electronically measures the position of a moving target relative to a fixed sensor. There is no physical or electrical contact between sensor and target.
Sensors are PCBs (printed circuit boards) including printed coil patterns designed by CambridgeIC. They are typically either linear or rotary. Customers usually build sensor PCBs themselves. This enables customers to integrate the sensor in the optimum way for their application, and to buy the parts cost effectively from their normal PCB fab.
Our main products are integrated circuits including the CAM312 and newly launched CAM622. These connect to sensors. The system performs measurements and reports the position of each target to a host system. Depending on the application, we can also supply targets. Customers usually build the sensors themselves, based on designs we provide.
Our products are for embedded position sensing. This means our customers are designing products that have moving parts inside, and they need to add a way to sense the position of those parts. Our solution is for high-volume applications where the customer needs a cost effective solution.
Benefits include:
- No wear, because the technology is non-contacting.
- Mechanically robust, because sensors are just built from PCBs and have no delicate parts.
- Immune to dust and dirt
- Tolerant of mechanical misalignment, so no special installation, calibration or adjustment is needed.
- Large gaps between sensor and target possible - Processor integrated circuits can connect to more than one sensor to reduce system complexity and cost in multi-axis systems CambridgeIC is the only company in the world offering processing chips for resonant inductive position sensing.
