Laser Acquisition System
This project simulates a laser communication device by utilizing a simple laser to represent the transmitter side. The goal of the project was to devlop a way for the laser to automatically align to a receiver side based on a photodiode readings. This was to prototype an initial search pattern for a communication device.
Tip + Tilt Laser Actuator
The motion system is two stepper motors placed perpendicular to themselves allowing for steering of a beam. The system was controlled via Bluetooth and a few scanning patterns were created as an initial searching method.
![CapStone Project [Converted]-01.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b7e901_91c3cd2c335d40b695524cc560bc3f98~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_1640,y_455,w_1408,h_1486/fill/w_266,h_281,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/CapStone%20Project%20%5BConverted%5D-01.jpg)
![CapStone Project [Converted]-02.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b7e901_3a8b80e596294e418b66875ac85ad71b~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_1152,y_647,w_2480,h_1007/fill/w_488,h_200,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/CapStone%20Project%20%5BConverted%5D-02.jpg)
The Receiver (Wired)
The receiver side utilized a simple photodiode as the feedback mechanism. This was first tested as a wired connection that would send a high signal to the microcontroller on the laser side triggering an interrupt in the code and storing the position of the motors at the highest photodiode value.
The Receiver (LORA)
To create a wireless system times were synced with the LoRa modules. These modules allowed for the transmission of a timestamp during the peak photodiode value, which was later used to realign the laser.