Optical goniometer esp. for docking of tankers - has equally spaced photodetectors on tanker sensing angles and distance from constant and pulsating docking light sources

摘要

The polar coordinates of an object w.r.t. reference point and also the orientation of the object are measured using an optical goniometer. Such a system enables large tankers to dock at bouy. A tanker(1) approaching floating dock (2) carries photodetectors (5, 6, 7) spaced equally apart. The detectors receive light from a light source (3) turning at a constant predetermined space and from an omni-directional light source (4) whose output is in burst. Angles subtended by the detectors to the beam are determined from time of sweep from one detector to the next. A microprocessor calculates required distance information.