HMC5883L COMPASS

The HMC5883L is a low-field magnetic sensing IC with a surface-mount, multi-chip module. This sensor consists of high-resolution HMC118X series magneto-resistive sensors with an ASIC containing amplification, automatic degaussing strap drivers, offset cancellation, and a 12-bit ADC that enables 1° to 2° compass heading accuracy. Moreover, this module also consists of an onboard voltage regulator IC, which allows a wide operating voltage range between 3V-5V. The sensor communicates via standard I2C protocol. This allows an easy and simple interface between the sensor and a microcontroller using just 2 wires.

HMC5883L 3-axis digital compass used for measuring the magnetization of a magnetic material like a Ferromagnet, or to measure the strength. In some cases, the direction of the magnetic field at a point in space is determined using this IC. The power and 2-wire interface pins are all arranged as a 0.1″ pitch header.

The HMC5883L makes use of Honeywell’s Anisotropic Magnetoresistive (AMR) technology that provides advantages over other magnetic sensor technologies. These anisotropic, directional sensors provide accurate precision in-axis sensitivity and linearity. In short, these sensors’ are designed as solid-state construction with very low cross-axis sensitivity in order to measure both the direction and the magnitude of Earth’s magnetic fields, from milli-gauss to 8 gausses. Th are one of the most prominent sensitive and highly reliable low-field sensors in the industry.

These HMC5883L IC magneto resistive sensors are arranged in a bridge circuit made up of nickel-iron (Ni-Fe magnetic film) material. So the electrical resistance of this material varies with the change in the applied magnetic field. As a result, the correspondent movement of the nickel-iron material in space experiences the earth’s magnetic field which changes the material’s resistance. Hence we get resultant voltage changes across the bridge. These changes in voltages are used to get the magnetic field direction in space.