Patent ID: 8104893

Claim:
A suntracking system for a solar power plant with a receiver, comprising: a heliostat field comprising three or more heliostats; a plurality of cameras directed toward the three or more heliostats, wherein the plurality of cameras comprise a first camera and a second camera configured to capture images of the three or more heliostats; a calibration controller configured to concurrently: acquire one or more orientation angles of a first heliostat of the three or more heliostats for which reflected sunlight from the first heliostat is detected by the first camera; acquire one or more orientation angles of a second heliostat of the three or more heliostats for which reflected sunlight from the second heliostat is detected by the first camera; and acquire one or more orientation angles of a third heliostat of the three or more heliostats for which reflected sunlight from the third heliostat is detected by the second camera; an estimation controller configured to estimate at least one geometric parameter for each of the three or more heliostats based on the one or more orientation angles and at least one nominal geometric parameter of the respective heliostat; and a tracking controller configured to orient the three or more heliostats to reflect sunlight to the receiver based, in part, on the at least one geometric parameter of the respective heliostat.