The design of a precision gauss meter for measuring magnetic fields is pres
ented. The instrument utilizes a Hall element probe as a transducer and fea
tures an analog front end capable of amplifying de and ac signals. A 16-bit
analog-to-digital converter interfaces the analog section to a microcontro
ller-based digital section which corrects nonlinearities in the Hall elemen
t probe as well as gain errors in the amplifiers. The specifications called
for 0.25% de accuracy and an ac bandwidth of 10 kHz, SPICE models were use
d to determine the frequency response, noise characteristics, and temperatu
re effects of the Hall element probe and the analog section, Finally, the a
nalog section and the Hall element probe were calibrated separately and con
figuration information was created for storage in EEPROM memory.