[Laser] Stepper motor control of laser communication unit

[Kerry Banke]

The stepper motor translator/driver ( Allegro 5804) we're using does not 
have microstepping capabilities.  If needed I guess we can look at more 
recent devices that can give us microstepping to whatever size we need if 
it really comes to that.  I just grabbed a readily available device that 
was easy to interface and get started. After I do some searching for our 
retroreflector  located out some miles this weekend I should know if we're 
ok.
  - Kerry N6IZW -

t 09:09 AM 10/22/2004, you wrote:
>I think you really hit the nail on the head with reference to the raster scan.
>Knowing exactly where to point is always a problem but one can get close thus
>rastering to peak becomes a necessity.  Doing this with steppers takes a 
>lot of
>pain out of the operation but one must still do the calculations to determine
>the step size at distance - one step could hop right over the target.  Of
>course, it still is a problem if the signal is so weak that it must be
>deciphered via DSP or other averaging techniques.
>
>Tom - WA2BPE