HIGH PRECISION ELECTRONIC SOLAR COMPASS

摘要

The present invention concerns an electronic solar compass (1) comprising a support (2), capable of rotating around a vertical axis (A), a detection unit (3) of the position of the sun, arranged on said support (2), said detection unit (3) being capable of rotating around a vertical axis (A) of a rotation angle (φ) with respect to said support (2), said detection unit (3) comprising a goniometer (34), preferably an electronic goniometer, adapted to measure said rotation angle (φ), pointing means (4) integral with said support (2), and a visualization display (6), said solar electronic compass (1) wherein said detection unit (3) comprises a matrix photosensor (F), a logic control unit, operatively connected with said photosensor (F), with said electronic goniometer (34) and said display (6), and a container (31), in which said photosensor (F) is placed, said container (31) having a slit (33) for the passage of sunlight toward said photosensor (F), said slit (33) having a width and a slit length and being integral with said photosensor (F), in that said slit (33) and said photosensor (F) are inclined by an angle (β) with respect to the horizontal plane, preferably equal to 45°, and are separated by a distance (d), and in that said width of said slit (33) is approximately equal to (I), where A is the average wavelength of the sunlight, equivalent to about 0,5 μm, and d is said distance of said slit (33) from said photosensor (F), said logic control unit being programmed to calculate the ephemeris of the sun on the basis of the time and the geographical coordinates of the location and to process the data received by said photosensor (F) and from said electronic goniometer (34), so as to measure the pointing direction of said pointing means (4) with respect to the geographical North and/or with respect to the geographical South, showing the result on said display (6). The present invention relates to methods for determining the pointing direction of an object with respect to the geographic North using a electronic solar compass (1).