A low-power and high-precision miniaturized digital sun sensor

A prototype miniaturized digital sun sensor (miniDSS) was developed by TNO. It is expected to be launched on QuadSat for in-orbit demonstration. The single-chip sun sensor comprises an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) on which an active pixel sensor (APS), read-out and processing circuitry as well as communication circuitry are combined. The sun sensor consumes only 65 mW, has a volume of 69x52x14 mm3 and a mass of just 72 grams. Although the miniDSS is a miniaturized and low-power device, the accuracy is not compromised by this. The uncalibrated accuracy is in the order of a few hundreds of a degree, across the field of view of 102°x102°. The sensor is albedo insensitive. © 2013 SPIE.