Patent ID: 7000883

Claim:
A gimbal apparatus, comprising: a first support; a first actuator coupled to the first support to rotate the first support about a first axis; a second support rotatably carried by the first support and configured to carry a tracking payload; a second actuator coupled to the second support to rotate the second support about a second axis transverse to the first axis; a third actuator carried by the second support to rotate about a third axis, the third actuator being operatively coupleable to the tracking payload to rotate the tracking payload relative to the second support, the third axis being generally parallel to the first axis when the second support is in a first angular position relative to the second axis, the third axis being non-parallel to the first axis when the second support is in a second angular position relative to the second axis; and wherein the first actuator is positioned to move the first support through a first angular range, the second actuator is positioned to move the second support through a second angular range, and the third actuator is positioned to move the tracking payload through a third angular range, the third angular range being less than both the first and second angular ranges.