What?
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Ultra-lightweight Sun sensors can be used to measure the shape of large deployable surfaces in space
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Current lightweight Sun sensors lack accuracy while precise sensors are bulky
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Custom designed a Sun sensor using a quad-photodiode below a square aperture (4-pixel pinhole camera)
How?
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Design and built PCB using off-the-shelf components and standard practices for mixed-signal layouts
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Built high gain transimpedance amplifiers connected to Analog-to-Digital Converters
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Designed calibration method to account for non-linearities between theoretical sensor response and actual performance
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On-board controller performs calibration adjustments and angle computations
Results
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Arcminute RMS error with a 5g sensor (size and mass can be further optimized)
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Built over 14 sensors and demonstrated feasibility of shape reconstruction
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Large scale simulations show millimeter accuracy using such sensors with structures over 30 m in length
