Development and investigation of an optical tilt sensor

An optical tilt sensor was developed and its performance was investigated. The tilt sensor set-up consisted of a laser light source, lenses and an image sensor. A precision reference tilt sensor was also installed on the same stage, and the measurement results of tilt angles using the optical and reference tilt sensors were correlated. The correlation coefficient (R-value) obtained under ideal conditions was 0.99454, indicating that the optical tilt sensor could produce as accurate measurements as the precision reference tilt sensor. The R-value decreased to 0.97714 and 0.93209 when the image sensor was shifted backwards and forwards from the focal plane by 1 mm, respectively. The R-value decreased to 0.96840 when the tilt sensor was performed with the room light turned on. There were not significant differences in the measurement results obtained with air conditioners turned on and off, indicating that the optical tilt sensor was robust and was not sensitive to the surrounding air turbulence. These findings are useful for the final design of the optical tilt sensor. 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 07.07.Df; 42.15.Dp; 42.62.Eh