Digital Measurement of Angular Position and Velocity

<!--[endif]-->Another type of angular position encoder, besides the angular encoder is the slotted encoder shown in Figure 1.This encoder can be used in conjunction with a pair of counters and a highfrequency clock to determine the speed of rotation of the slotted wheel.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2 As shown in Figure 2, a clock of known frequency is connected to a counter while another counter records the number of slot pulses detected by an optical slot detector as the wheel rotates. Dividing the counter values, one could obtain the speed of the rotating wheel in radians per second. For example, assume a clocking frequency of 1.2 kHz. If both counters are started at zero and at some instant the timer counter reads 2,850 and the encoder counter reads 3,050, then the speed of the rotating encoder is found to be: 1,200 cycles/second x (2,850 slots/3,050 cycles) = 1,121.3 slots/second and 1,121.3 slots per second 1 degree per slot 2/360 rad/degree = 19.6 rad/s If this encoder is connected to a rotating shaft, it is possible to measure the angular position and velocity of the shaft. Such shaft encoders are used in measuring the speed of rotation of electric

motors, machine tools, engines, and other rotating machinery. A typical application of the slotted encoder is to compute the ignition and injection timing in an automotive engine. In an automotive engine, information related to speed is obtained from the camshaft and the flywheel, which have known reference points. The reference points determine the timing for the ignition firing points and fuel injection pulses, and are identified by special slot patterns on the camshaft and crankshaft. Two methods are used to detect the special slots (reference points): period measurement with additional transition detection (PMA), and period measurement with missing transition detection (PMM). In the PMA method, an additional slot (reference point) determines a known reference position on the crankshaft or camshaft. In the PMM method, the reference position is determined by the absence of a slot.

Fig. 3 Figure 3 (up) illustrates a typical PMA pulse sequence, showing the presence of an additional pulse. The additional slot may be used to determine the timing for the ignition pulses relative to a known position of the crankshaft. Figure 3 (bottom) depicts a typical PMM pulse sequence. Because the period of the pulses is known, the additional slot or the missing slot can be easily detected and used as a reference position. How would you implement these pulse sequences using ring counters?