Automatic beam scanning apparatus for evaluating optical beacons

Claim 2

Automatic beam scanning apparatus for evaluating optical beacons comprising: a housing having an open-ended cylindrical chamber therethrough and disposed for rotation about the longitudinal axis thereof, an optical beacon mounted within said chamber with the optical axis substantially along the chamber longitudinal axis, an optical detector adjustably positioned in a plane which includes said chamber longitudinal axis and responsive to optical energy eminating from said chamber to provide an electrical output signal, means for rotating said chamber housing and beacon around said longitudinal axis for scanning the beam of said beacon across said detector at a radius from said opTical axis, a motor driven traverse table for traversing said chamber housing and longitudinal axis within the plane of said detector and said longitudinal axis and thereby scanning through the center of the optical beam from said beacon across said detector, and recording means responsive to said detector output for recording the intensity of radiant energy sampled thereby.

Claim 3

Automatic beam scanning apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rotating means is a rotate motor, and further comprising control means coupled to said rotate motor and said traverse table motor for controlling the direction of rotation thereof.

Claim 4

In an automatic beam scanning apparatus having optical beacon mounted for optical rotation about a beacon optical axis and supported for traversal in the plane of the axis, the method of automatically sampling and recording the spatial distribution of the optical beam of a beacon comprising the steps of: a. placing optical detecting means at an acute angle with the beacon optical axis in a plane of said axis, b. directing optical energy along said optical axis toward said detecting means, c. rotating said beacon a predetermined angular distance around said optical axis for allowing said detector to sample radiant energy therefrom at a first radius around the beam axis, d. scanning the center of said beam across said detector through an acute angle for sampling a first cross-section of radiant energy of said beam along a first scan line, e. re-rotating said beacon a second angular distance around said optical axis for sampling radiant energy at a second radius around the beam axis, and f. re-scanning the center of said beam across said detector for sampling radiant energy along another scan line.

Claim 5

In an automatic beam scanning apparatus having optical beacon mounted for optical rotation about a beacon optical axis and supported for traversal in the plane of the axis, the method of automatically sampling and recording the spatial distribution of the optical beam of a beacon comprising the steps of: a. placing optical detecting means at an acute angle with the beacon optical axis in a plane of said axis, b. directing optical energy along said optical axis toward said detecting means, c. rotating said beacon a predetermined angular distance around said optical axis for allowing said detector to sample radiant energy therefrom at a first radius around the beam axis, d. scanning the center of said beam across said detector through an acute angle for sampling a first cross-section of radiant energy of said beam along a first scan line, e. re-rotating said beacon a second angular distance around said optical axis for sampling radiant energy at a second radius around the beam axis, and f. re-scanning the center of said beam across said detector for sampling radiant energy along another scan line.

Claim 6

The method of automatically sampling and recording the spatial distribution of the optical beam of a beacon as set forth in claim 3 and further comprising the steps of: a. recording a graph of said sampled energy during rotation and scanning of said beam of energy across said detector for determining spatial energy distribution in said beam, and b. repeatedly scanning the center of said beam across said detector at separate and distinct positions of rotation for accurately determining spatial distribution of energy across a cross-section of the beacon beam.