Patent ID: 6792369
Filing Date: 2004-09-14
Classification: G01B

Abstract:
A system for calibrating an apparatus for aligning components relative to desired paths comprising:first means for generating a command designed to move a line-of-sight of one of said components to a first position, said components being sensor system components and including one or more electromagnetic energy transmitters, receivers and/or sensors, said line-of-sight moving to a second position in response thereto and said line-of-sight being coincident with a first reference beam, and wherein said command corresponds to a mirror drive signal that controls a steering mirror positioned to selectively alter said line-of-sight and second means for automatically compensating for a variation between said first position and said second position via a scale factor, said second means further including: a photodetector, said steering mirror, said steering mirror being responsive to said command and positioned to direct said first reference beam onto said photodetector, thereby creating a reference spot corresponding to said first reference beam on a surface of said photodetector, a processor in communication with said steering mirror and in communication with an output of said photodetector, and software adapted to be executed by said processor and thereby generate said command and facilitate measurement of said first position and said second position of said first reference beam by measuring corresponding positions of said reference spot on said surface of said photodetector, said software adjusts feedback from line-of-sight measurements cutout from an image tracker in accordance with whether said line-of-sight measurements indicate that said steering mirror has moved more than a predetermined desired movement or less than a predetermined desired movement; and third means for adjusting said command via said scale factor so that said second position matches said first position.