The sensing mechanism in an incremental optical rotary encoder consists primarily of a light source, code wheel, and optical detector. As the code wheel turns, a ring of alternating opaque and ...

This Design Idea utilizes an optical computer mouse's sensor for measuring rotation of a disk which can be mechanically connected to any sort of rotating apparatus. One feature is to allow adjustment ...

Rotary quadrature encoders often are used to command digital potentiometers or digital controllers, and quadrature decoding is typically performed in a programmable device (like an FPGA or ...

• The new mantra of position encoding is low-current drain. • Capacitive encoding is a way to realize low-power consumption without giving up resolution or accuracy, even at relatively low speeds.

This article is part of the Ideas for Design Series: Vol. 3, No. 8. In many applications, accurately sensing the position of an electrically controlled mechanical device such as a motor is critical.

Last year, Automation World examined the differences between accuracy, resolution, and precision in the encoder world. And while understanding the differences among these terms is important to ...