Development of a low cost sun sensor using quadphotodiode

Maqsood, Ishtiaq; Akram, Tahir

doi:10.1109/plans.2010.5507186

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The mask with aperture is used to lead the sunlight to the surface of the sensitive unit, with the shape of hole, slit and square aperture [8,9,10,11].…”

Section: Mask With Aperturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Design of a Micro Self-Powered Wireless Analog Sun Sensor

Zhang

Wang

You

2013

KEM

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This paper presents a new type of micro self-powered wireless analog sun sensor. The mask with aperture of the sun sensor, developed by glass coated process, reduces the impact on accuracy caused by second reflection of the light, and also promotes system’s external thermal radiation ability. With aluminum substrate process, the processing circuit is integrated on the bottom cover of the sun sensor, which saves the conventional processing circuit needed space and reduces the complexity of system’s structure. Self-powered and wireless data transmission improve the system’s application flexibility. The simulation results and preliminary experiments show that the accuracy of the system has the ability to reach 0.2° in the whole 120°×120° FOV and the solar cells’ minimum output power is 90mW which is able to meet the power consumption requirements of the system circuits.

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“…The mask with aperture is used to lead the sunlight to the surface of the sensitive unit, with the shape of hole, slit and square aperture [8,9,10,11].…”

Section: Mask With Aperturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Design of a Micro Self-Powered Wireless Analog Sun Sensor

Zhang

Wang

You

2013

KEM

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“…However, a straightforward method of creating a sun position sensor uses a pinhole to allow a small light spot to reach the surface of a detector [6] [7]. A position-sensitive detector (PSD) is a common device for detecting the position of such a light spot.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MEMS optical position sensor for sun tracking

Welch

Christen

2015

2015 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS)

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We demonstrate a sun tracking sensor fabricated in the MultiMEMS SensoNor process. The sensor uses a quadrant photodetector to determine the position of a projected shadow. Differential measurement of pairs of photodiodes allows simultaneous dual-axis readings. The sensing structure was manufactured in the commercial MultiMEMS process, so it can be easily reproduced in large quantities. The device was tested from -45 ∘ to +45 ∘ to verify performance. Results show a linear correlation between a mapped output and angle of incident light with an R 2 value of 0.995. The small size, robust structure, and minimal post-processing make it well-suited for sun tracking applications.978-1-4799-8391-9/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

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“…Measuring solar angles with a sun sensor is a good way of estimating absolute orientation [8][9][10]. Typical requirements include an accuracy on the order of 1 degree and a field of view of 30 degrees or 60 degrees [11]. Widefield-of-view sun sensors [12] suitable for use on CubeSat and microrover platforms are still an open area of research and, in many cases, simpler systems are desirable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary Microrover

Post

Lee

2013

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

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This paper presents the development of low-cost methodologies to determine the attitude of a small, CubeSat-class satellite and a microrover relative to the sun's direction. The use of commercial hardware and simple embedded designs has become an effective path for university programs to put experimental payloads in space for minimal cost, and the development of sensors for attitude and heading determination is often a critical part. The development of two compact and efficient but simple coarse sun sensor methodologies is presented in this research. A direct measurement of the solar angle uses a photodiode array sensor and slit mask. Another estimation of the solar angle uses current measurements from orthogonal arrays of solar cells. The two methodologies are tested and compared on ground hardware. Testing results show that coarse sun sensing is efficient even with minimal processing and complexity of design for satellite attitude determination systems and rover navigation systems.

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Development of a low cost sun sensor using quadphotodiode

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

The Design of a Micro Self-Powered Wireless Analog Sun Sensor

The Design of a Micro Self-Powered Wireless Analog Sun Sensor

MEMS optical position sensor for sun tracking

A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary Microrover

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