METHOD FOR DETERMINING A SENSE IMPEDANCE IN A GUARD-SENSE CAPACITIVE SENSOR

A method for determining a sense impedance of a guard-sense capacitive sensor operated in loading mode, the sensor having an electrically conductive sense electrode and an electrically conductive guard electrode. The method includes: providing a periodic guard voltage to the guard electrode; sequentially providing periodic reference voltages Vrefi via a reference impedance Zref, to the sense node; for each reference voltage, determining the value Imi of the current applied to the sense node; determining the sense reference voltage Vs to be provided to the sense node, which would lead to a current with an amplitude of zero; and calculating the unknown sense impedance Zx of the sense electrode, with reference to the sense reference voltage Vs, the periodic guard voltage Vg, and the reference impedance Zref.