Patent ID: 8796604

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a filter matrix arranged to receive incident solar irradiance, the filter matrix comprising an array of pixels electrically controllable to selectively acquire different irradiance components; a module configured to determine a spatial location of at least one of the irradiance components relative to the array of pixels of the filter matrix; and a controller electrically coupled to the module and configured to: supply a control signal to the filter matrix based on the determined spatial location of the irradiance components to pass a selected one of the irradiance components, wherein the selected one of the irradiance components comprises a direct irradiance component or a diffuse irradiance component; sequentially perform the following: 1) during a first time interval actuating a first group of the array of pixels of the filter matrix to pass the direct irradiance component and actuating a second group of the array of pixels of the filter matrix to block the diffuse irradiance component during the first time interval; and 2) during a second time interval actuating the second group of the array of pixels of the filter matrix to pass the diffuse irradiance component and actuating the first group of the array of pixels to block the direct irradiance component during the second time interval.