Self-Referenced Broad-Range Optical Rotation Sensor for Flight Control Applications

In this paper, we present a self-referenced broad range optical rotary sensor (ORS) for avionics applications. To achieve the high reliability required for aerospace use, the rotary encoder operates ratiometrically to make it insensitive to source light power variation. This sensor has a higher oper...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of lightwave technology 2018-05, Vol.36 (10), p.2000-2009
Main Authors: Ahmadi Tameh, Tahereh, Kashyap, Raman, Sawan, Mohamad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Adaptive optics
Aerospace electronics
Aluminum coatings
Analog sensor
Avionics
Flight control
Glass substrates
Optical device fabrication
Optical properties
Optical reflection
Optical rotation
optical rotation sensor
Optical sensors
Product design
ratio-metric design
self-referencing sensor
Sensors
Shaft encoders
Variations
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this paper, we present a self-referenced broad range optical rotary sensor (ORS) for avionics applications. To achieve the high reliability required for aerospace use, the rotary encoder operates ratiometrically to make it insensitive to source light power variation. This sensor has a higher operating range than rotary variable differential transformers (RVDTs) currently used in fly-by-wire aircraft. The ORS encoder is fabricated on an antireflection coated glass substrate with a reflective aluminum coating. Experimental results prove that the sensor accuracy is 0.8% over the full rotation range from 0° to 356.5°. The proposed ORS has better accuracy and an operating range of at least twice that of RVDTs, which have an accuracy of 1% over a full range of only 80°. We also test the insensitivity of the sensor to source fluctuations, which confirms that the sensor is self-referencing.
ISSN:0733-8724
1558-2213
DOI:10.1109/JLT.2018.2800694