An unexpected revisit to my earlier post on mouse encoder hacking sparked a timely opportunity to reexamine quadrature encoders, this time with a clearer lens and a more targeted focus on their signal ...

Reading quadrature encoder signals at high speeds (e.g., 1MHz, or, 1m/s with a resolution of 1µm) often requires dedicated hardware. This Design Idea shows a simple scheme to accomplish this function ...

The sensing mechanism in an incremental optical rotary encoder consists primarily of a light source, code wheel, and optical detector. As the code wheel turns, a ring of alternating opaque and ...

Encoders are widely used to help control machine position and speed. Typical encoder output, a series of quadrature signals, consists of two full square waves, offset by 90° in phase. The number of ...

Rotary quadrature encoders often are used to command digital potentiometers or digital controllers, and quadrature decoding is typically performed in a programmable device (like an FPGA or ...

To attain accurate positioning, a servo system requires a feedback signal to close its feedback loop. Instruments that typically supply the feedback signal include optical encoders, resolvers, and ...