Design methods and algorithms for configurable capacitive sensor interfaces

Generic sensor interface design reduces the design costs and offers a handy solution for multisensor applications. However, the main disadvantages of generic readout circuits are loss of performance and increased power consumption. The ability to program the front-end would have an important impact on the accuracy of the sensor readout. This paper studies the effect of programmability on an ultra low power generic capacitive sensor interface. It also provides an algorithm, which calculates the optimal configuration settings for each application.