Micro Sun Sensor

Abstract

A prototype micro Sun sensor has been developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. It consists of a thin piece of silicon coated with a layer of chrome and a layer of gold with hundreds of small pinholes, placed on top of an Active Pixel Sensor (APS) image detector at a distance of 900 microns. Images of the Sun are formed on the APS image detector when the Sun illuminates the mask. Sun angles are derived by determining the precise location of the Sun images on the detector-just like a sundial. The packaged micro sun sensor has a mass of 11 grams, a volume of 4.2 cm3 and a power consumption of 30 mW. The accuracy of the micro sun sensor is better than 1 arcminute and the maximum field of view is 160°.