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 ...

Quadrature encoders work inmany applications to determinedisplacement and direction of mechanicaltravel. They vary in design, butthey all do the same thing: supply a setof square waves 90° out of ...

Reading quadrature encoder signals at high speeds (e.g., 1MHz, or, 1m/s with a resolution of 1µm) often requires dedicated hardware. This Design Idea shows a simple scheme to accomplish this function ...

Encoders are widely used to help control machine position and speed. Typical encoder output, a series of quadrature signals, consists of two full square waves, offset by 90° in phase. The number of ...

Successful designers will understand the key role played by receiver ICs, encoder signal cabling, terminations, and pc-board layout. Today's demanding industrial applications require rugged, reliable ...

Everyone has at least one extra mouse laying around; why not get some use out of it? Disassembling the mouse you can get two optical encoders plus four infrared emitter/detector pairs. Then you can ...

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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 ...