IR tracker

Karl Stensvad and Allen Hurst built a two-axis optical tracking system.

 

RC servo motors control two axes of motion to aim the tracker -- and a tracer laser (shown wth simulated beam).

The tracker homes in on an encoded IR signal from this portable transmitter

An array of detectors in the tracker indicates where the transmitter lies in its field of view. (A lens is normally over this array.)

Multiplexors make it posisble for the computer to rapidly read all the detectors, and command the servos to center the target in the field of view.
Click on the image to see a five second .MOV movie of the tracker in action, casting a tracer beam on the transmitter.