DESIGN, PRODUCTION AND TEST OF A LOW COST DIGITAL SUN SENSOR (DSS) BY TNO TPD (NL) SODERN (FR) AND FILLFACTORY (B)

摘要

A low-cost novel Digital Sun Sensor (DSS) has been developed by TNO TPD (NL), SODERN (F) and Fillfactory (B) under ESA reference number AO/1-3545/99/NL/DS, covered by contract number 14462/00/NL/DS, in the frame of the ESA-ASTE (ARTES-5) program. A DSS Engineering model is designed, built and tested with a FOV of 120° x 120° and with an accuracy target of 0.02 degrees of arc and a resolution of 0.01 degrees of arc in the whole FOV. The sensor incorporates a maximum of autonomy for accurate sunposition measurement whilst the sensor's peripheral functionality and complexity is kept limited to comply with the low-cost constraint that was imposed by ESA for the development of this product. The main DSS constituents are: 1. An optical front end with: 1) a CMOS Active Pixel Sensor (APS) with on-chip AD conversion 2) an optical sun light attenuation filter 3) an aperture diaphragm (250x250μm square) connected to the APS 2. An electrical front-end, installed on a printed circuit board (PCB) with: 1) electronics for control of the detector and for video processing, embedded in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) 2) linear post regulation of a pre-regulated linear input supply voltage 3. A mechanical structure, which consists of aluminium housing with integrated mounting feet and alignment aid. 4. Interface connectors, for electrical interfaces concerning: 1) an RS-422 logic video interface 2) power, housekeeping and test purposes.