Optical system for posture detection comprising a scanning light source and a cube corner

摘要

The general field of the invention is that of systems for detecting the posture of a mobile object in space. The system according to the invention comprises an electro-optical device comprising a light source, a photoreceptor and means of analysis, and a retro-reflecting cube corner disposed on the mobile object. The cube corner comprises a mask disposed on its entry face. The source emits a parallel or almost-parallel pencil beam. The electro-optical device comprises means for deviating, about a fixed point, the said pencil beam of light by an angle varying as a function of time. The photoreceptor is configured for receiving the pencil beam of light retro-reflected by the cube corner. The means of analysis are configured in such a manner as to determine, based on the signal coming from the photoreceptor, the position of a number of points representative of the borders of the mask and, using this positional information, the posture of the cube corner in space.

主权项

1. System for detecting the posture of a mobile object in space, the said system comprising:
an electro-optical device of known orientation comprising a light source, a photoreceptor and a means of analysis of the signal coming from the said photoreceptor; an optical assembly comprising at least one cube corner disposed on the mobile object, the said cube corner comprising a mask of known geometrical shape disposed on its entry face; in which: the source emits a parallel or almost-parallel pencil beam; the electro-optical device comprises means for generating a pencil light beam angularly controlled and rotating about a fixed point; the photoreceptor being configured for receiving the pencil beam of light retro-reflected by the cube corner when it is illuminated by the deviated pencil beam of light coming from the light source, the means of analysis being configured in such a manner as to determine, based on the signal coming from the photoreceptor, the position of a number of points being representative of the borders of the mask of the cube corner and, using this positional information, the posture of the cube corner in space.