Design Considerations
AN64846 - Getting Started with CapSense
®
Doc. No. 001-64846 Rev. *X
68
Figure 3-41. Electrical Field Propagation for a Single Sensor Configuration with a Solid Metal Object
Earth Ground
Finger
Detection distance
PCB
Sensor
Metal Surface
Figure 3-42. Using a Shield Electrode to Decrease the Metal Object
’s Influence
Earth Ground
Finger
Detection
distance
Isolation
Sensor
PCB
Shield
Electrode
Metal Surface
3.6.3.2 Software Parameters
Resolution of CSD:
The proximity-sensing distance is directly proportional to the resolution parameter of the
CapSense sensing method. With a high-resolution value, you can detect small changes in C
F
with an SNR > 5:1.
Detecting small changes in C
F
essentially means a large proximity distance.
Firmware Filters:
Proximity sensors are more susceptible to noise because of their large sensor area and high-
sensitivity settings. High noise decreases SNR and hence reduces the proximity-sensing distance. Firmware filters
help in reducing the noise, thereby increasing the SNR and the proximity-sensing distance. You can use IIR,
median, average or ALP filters to reduce the noise. Refer to the
section for details on IIR, median,
and average filters. Refer to the application note
for details on the ALP filter.
3.6.3.3 System Parameters
Power consumption:
Proximity sensors require scanning the sensor at a high resolution (15 or 16 bits) to achieve
a large proximity-sensing distance. A higher resolution results in a longer scan time and increases the device active
time, which leads to a higher power consumption. Therefore, larger proximity distance requires higher power
consumption.
EMI/EMC/ESD performance:
To achieve a large proximity-sensing distance, the proximity sensor must be tuned
for high sensitivity. A high-sensitivity setting results in reduced EMI/EMC performance. Therefore, there is a
tradeoff between the proximity-sensing distance and the EMI/EMC performance.
To improve the ESD performance of the proximity sensor, you can surround the sensor with a ground loop as
shown in