Optical direction sensor having gray code mask spaced from a plurality of interdigitated detectors
First Claim
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1. A direction of arrival sensor having particular utility for detecting and determining the angle of incoming radiation comprising:
- a slit mask having at least one narrow transparent slit;
a plurality of detector elements spaced from said slit mask and being responsive to incoming radiation passing through said transparent slit;
said plurality of detector elements forming pairs of first and second detector combinations;
differential means, coupled to each of said pairs of said first and second detector combinations, for providing an output signal indicative of the difference between the two input signals from said first and second detector combinations; and
means, responsive to said differential means, for providing a digital signal indicative of the angle of incidence of the incoming radiation.
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Abstract
Apparatus for detecting and determining the direction of arrival of optical radiation. The apparatus includes a first mask having one or more slit apertures, a binary encoding mask which combines the functions of angle sensing and digitizing using a so-called gray encoding scheme, and interdigitated detector(s) to produce differential electrical signals, and output processing electronics for providing a digital code or word corresponding to the angle-of-arrival of the incident radiation.
37 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A direction of arrival sensor having particular utility for detecting and determining the angle of incoming radiation comprising:
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a slit mask having at least one narrow transparent slit; a plurality of detector elements spaced from said slit mask and being responsive to incoming radiation passing through said transparent slit;
said plurality of detector elements forming pairs of first and second detector combinations;differential means, coupled to each of said pairs of said first and second detector combinations, for providing an output signal indicative of the difference between the two input signals from said first and second detector combinations; and means, responsive to said differential means, for providing a digital signal indicative of the angle of incidence of the incoming radiation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A direction of arrival sensor, comprising:
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a mask (11) having one or more elongate slit apertures (27); a plurality of interdigitated detector elements (13-20, or 105-123) responsive to the angle of an incoming radiation for providing a plurality of groups of differential signals; and processing means (21-24, 82-85) being responsive to each set of said differential signals for providing a plurality of digital signals each being representative of a respective one of said plurality of sets of differential signals; whereby a plurality of digital signals being provided for comprising a digital angle-of-arrival word indicative of the angle of incidence of the incoming radiation.
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7. A detector for determining the angle of incidence of incoming radiation, comprising:
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an opaque planar slit mask having at least one narrow transparent straight slit in the opaque plane of said mask; a detector array in a plane parallel with and spaced from said planar slit mask, and having a plurality of adjacent substantially identical paired detector elements with their longitudinal axis being parallel with each other and perpendicular to said transparent slit; a gray code mask intermediate said slit mask and said detector array, said gray code mask means having a plurality of transparent mask sections and a plurality of opaque mask sections for effecting the encoding of said detector array; an output circuit having a plurality of differential amplifier circuits each having a first and a second input terminal and an output terminal, each of said first and second input terminals being operatively coupled to a respective one of an interdigitated adjacent pair of said detector elements, said output terminal of each of said differential amplifiers being operatively coupled to a respective one of a plurality of comparator circuit means, each of said differential amplifier circuits being responsive to a pair of signal outputs from a respective pair of said detector elements for generating a respective difference signal output, each of said comparator circuit means being responsive to a respective one of said difference signal outputs for generating a respective binary coded signal.
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8. A detector for determining the angle of incidence of incoming radiation, comprising:
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an opaque planar slit mask (11) having at least one narrow transparent straight slit (27) in the opaque plane of said mask; detector means (102) spaced from and in a plane substantially parallel with said planar slit mask, said detector means having a first type semiconductor wafer (103) and a plurality of second type semiconductor regions (105-123), each said second type semiconductor regions being in electrical contact with said first type semiconductor wafer forming a plurality of P-N junction detectors arranged in a predetermined encode pattern each being responsive to an incidence of the incoming radiation thereon for generating a signal, and circuit means (21-24, 82-85) operatively coupled to said P-N junction detectors and being responsive to said signals for providing a digital angle-of-arrival word indicative of the angle of the incoming radiation relative to said planar slit mask. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A direction of arrival sensor for determining the angular direction of radiation comprising:
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a plurality of radiation detectors positioned in elongated groups forming detector pairs of first and second detector combination; a slit mask having a transmissive slit therein positioned over said plurality of radiation detectors; differential means, coupled to each of said detector pairs, for subtracting the output of said first detector combination from the output of said second detector combinations; and comparator means, coupled to the output of said differential means, for providing a digital code based on the output of said differential means. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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Specification