Patent ID: 7199353

Claim:
An aircraft optical encoder system, comprising: a fuselage; a cockpit, at least a portion of the cockpit positioned in a portion of the fuselage; a control inceptor positioned in the cockpit, the control inceptor having a recess and a portion for receiving at least a portion of an operator's hand; an optical encoder device having a housing, an input wheel, at least one light emitter, and at least one light sensor, the at least one light emitter and the at least one light sensor being located proximate to the input wheel to detect rotational movement of the input wheel, the housing surrounding at least a portion of the input wheel, the at least one light emitter, and the at least one light sensor, the input wheel, the at least one light emitter, and the at least one light sensor being carried by the housing so that the optical encoder device is a single modular unit, a portion of the housing being received by the recess of the control inceptor, the optical encoder device being attached to the control inceptor via the housing, a portion of the input wheel being positioned to be actuated by the operator's hand, the housing being positioned to resist at least one of electromagnetic interference between the optical encoder system and at least one other aircraft system and an effect of a high intensity radiated field on the optical encoder device.