494 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 43, NO.
3, JUNE 1994
Analog
nl bits n2 bits switch
J-ifI
Logic
(n,- n ) msb’s
Fig. 3. (a) Adaptive range extension system. (b) Transfer characteristic of
the adaptive range extension system.
will be activated and the full range extension output will be used.
Such a simple adaptive system is shown in Fig. 3(a). The transfer
characteristic of the adaptive range extension system is represented
schematically in Fig. 3(b).
IV. DISCUSSION
The newly introduced circuit can extend the range of the AD 639
by more than an order of magnitude depending on the A/D, D/A and
the reset point (n. 27r or 37r). The technique is simple to implement
and uses minimum additional components resulting in cost reduction
and a decrease in circuit complexity compared to other techniques.
It should be possible to extend the range by factors of two until the
angular resolution becomes too poor. With present-day technology
this limitation would lie between 64 and 128.
The linearity error introduced by the 10-bit D/A converter for
the particular example investigated experimentally would, however,
degrade the 0.02% law conformance of the AD 639. For commonly
available A/D and D/A converters, the linearity error is usually less
than or equal to one least significant bit. If the linearity errors of
the A/D and D/A are assumed to be statistically independent, the
circuit would have a law conformance of 0.14% resulting in total
harmonic distortion of -57 dB. This error can be reduced by the
implementation of range converters with an increased number of
bits. For example, a 12-bit D/A converter would result in a law
conformance error comparable to the 0.02% of the AD 639.
As in the case of the ROM look-up table approach, the range-
extended AD 639 incorporates digitization resulting in quantization
error which is inversely proportional to the number of converter bits.
The corresponding signal-to-noise ratio is given by (671-7.2) dB with
7t the number of bits [ 5 ] .The influence of quantization error can be
reduced by either increasing the number of bits of the A/D and D/A,
or by introducing circuit adaptivity. The last-mentioned technique is
not readily implemented in other systems such as those incorporating
look-up tables. Another advantage of this range extension technique
is that the same circuit can be applied to generate cosine, sine,
and tangent functions. The generation of quadrature signals would
therefore only require one range extension circuit, while two ROM
00 18-9456/94$04.O0 0 1994 IEEE
look-up table circuits would be necessary. Drift in the scaling factors
is eliminated by employing chopper-stabilized amplifiers.
REFERENCES
[I] B. Gilbert, “‘A monotonic microsystem for analog synthesis of trigono-
metric functions and their inverses,” IEEE J . Solid-Srare Circuits, vol.
SC-17, pp. 1179-1191, 1982.
[2] Analog Devices, Linear Products Databook, 1988, pp. 9.17-9.28.
[3] A. D. Kersey and R. P. Moeller, “Open loop gyroscope with phase shift
nulling signal processing,” Electron. Left., vol. 26, pp. 1251-1253.1990.
[4] S. J. Spammer and P. L. Swart, “A quadrature phase tracker for
open-loop fibre-optic gyroscopes,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syste., I : Fun-
damental Theory and Appl., vol. 40, pp. 8691, 1993.
[5] S. Haykin, Communication Systems, 2nd Ed. New York: Wiley, 1983.
High-Resolution of Rotary Encoder
Analog Quadrature Signals
J. R. Rent? Mayer
Abstract-The paper describes a software technique to provide high-
resolution absolute angular measurements from the analog quadrature
signals of a rotary encoder. The method uses digitized samples of the
sinusoidal quadrature signals and the output of a divide-by-four counter
circuit. Dynamic measurements on an external trigger signal are possible
allowing instantaneous up-to-date angular readings even at high speed.
The resolution and hysteresis errors are only dependent on the encoder
itself and the bandwidth and resolution of the sampling circuitry. The
scheme allows up to 135 degrees of counter hysteresis and delay without
loss of precision, thus also affording excellent noise immunity. The
theoretical resolution for a 12-bit digital conversion of the analog signals
is U3360 of a pitch. Experimental results on an encoder built into a
laser-tracking measurement system and using 81 000 pitches show a uni-
directional precision of 0.3 arcsec (rms), a mean bidirectional hysteresis
of about 1 arcsec and a worst case variation for a stationary encoder
shaft of 0.06 arcsec.
I. INTRODUCTION
The method described in this article was developed for an in-
strument capable of dynamically measuring the coordinates of a
retroreflective target using a laser-tracking triangulation technique. In
such a system, a laser beam is deflected towards a retroreflector target
using servo-driven mirrors. The angular positions of these mirrors
are needed to calculate the target position and are measured using
angular encoders. Typically, for this type of measuring system, if a 1
meter sided measurement volume is required, an angular precision of
0.25 arcsec on the mirror angular sensing will result in a worst-case
target position uncertainty of 10 pm [I]. This is the precision required
for the instrument to be used for applications such as industrial
robot performance testing. As a result, high angular resolution,
low hysteresis, and high accuracy are required both statically and
dynamically. Furthermore, since data from four separate axes must
Manuscript received March 4, 1993. This work was supported by the Com-
munity Bureau of Reference of the Commission of the European Communities
under contract 3098/1/0/07 1/86/7-BCR-UK(30).
The author is with the Section Fabrication, Ecole Polytechnique, Campus
de L’Universite de Montrkal, Montreal, Canada, H3C 3A7.
IEEE Log Number 9402231.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 43, NO. 3. JUNE 1994
I D
Fig. 1. Analog quadrature signals.
be combined to calculate one target position, the angular data from
each encoder must be capable of being sampled simultaneously at
externally defined instants.
High-precision optical encoders are now available with analog
quadrature signal outputs. Such devices have a rotating disk with
a fine grating of radial lines. A light generation and detection system
detects the movement of the grating and generates two analog signals
out of phase by 90" [2]. Although devices with a grating pitch
of 16 arcsec are available, further interpolation within these cycles
is required to generate the required angular precision. Although
some circuits are available based on resistive networks to perform
the necessary interpolation within each sinusoidal cycle, these often
exhibit hysteresis effects which do not allow the full capability of
the encoder to be exploited. Furthermore, the hysteresis is often built
into the counting circuitry in order to cope with slow movements
of the encoder and noise on the analog signals without causing
spurious counts. These methods have the further disadvantage of
requiring faster counting circuitry as the number of divisions per
encoder cycle is increased. Some of these problems are discussed
in Kuzdrall [3]. Completely digital techniques have been described
recently by Hagiwara et. al. [4]. With such methods, however, the
clock speed of the system may become too great in practice as the
desired resolution increases.
11. SIGNAL
PROCESSING
The quadrature signals shown in Fig. 1 can be represented as
d, = A, sin k8 + A4cJ (1)
B3 = B , cos kH + B,, (2)
where
k is the number of grating cycles in one rotation; 0 is the
angular position of the encoder shaft; -A,, and 13, are the electrical
signal amplitudes; -4, and Bo are the electrical signal offsets.
Within each cycle of the grating, the phase angle 9 = kB can
be calculated from the digitized versions of As and B,, namely,
A,/ and B,/, as
with A and B being the sin (r^ and cos 9 quantities, respectively.
Using high-level software, e.g., FORTRAN77, Q can be evaluated
for the full hr range.
9 can now be used as a fine adjustment to a divide-by-four counter
output to calculate the encoder shaft angle O,,,, . However, the counter
output C must be corrected by an offset C O ,an integer between -3
+
and 4 , so that C C,, is the counter nominal value when (r^ = 0:
495
I , , , , )
0 r; +n -'c 0 f +n -'c
Count two
quadrant, GQ
Fig. 2. Relationship between the phase quadrant and the counter two least
significant binary digits.
COis a variable count offset as determined from the count's two least
significant binary digits and from p as calculated. The value of C,,
also allows for significant amounts of hysteresis to be present in the
counting circuitry which results in a possible discrepancy between the
current counter quadrant and its nominal value expected for the phase
angle 9.Furthermore, should the discrepancy exceed the design value
for e,, a software warning can be issued which indicates a possible
failure condition or data invalidity, for example, a count loss may
have occurred.
Fig. 2 illustrates the relationship between the phase angle 9,the
count associated quadrant CAQand a possible set of the count's
two least significant binary digits. The flow chart of Fig. 3 is used to
determine C, and set any wariiing flag. It is designed to accommodate
the full range of 9 for any count associated quadrant C ~ QIt .also
allows for of hysteresis without error flagging. However, even if
is exceeded, the count offset calculated remains valid provided
the actual hysteresis did not exceed 135". The scheme also works
for cases when the encoder phase 7 has moved out of the nominal
dz160" cycle to an adjacent one due to counter hysteresis while not
exceeding the maximum hysteresis criteria of 135".
111. INITIAL CALIBRATION
The gain and offset -Ag, B,, -Ao, and Bo can be calibrated by
analyzing a large number of random measurements to determine the
minimum and maximum values for A a n d B as follows:
il - .Amrdx - ilrm
,-2
(5)
The same set of random readings can also provide the correspondence
between the count's two least significant binary digits and the
associated quadrant ( 1 to 4). This is done by counting the number
of times a particular pattern of the count's two least significant
binary digits appears for each of the four quadrants of 9.Only
those measurements for which 9 is outside the hysteresis region are
considered.
PRECISION
IV. THEORETICAL
The theoretical sensitivity of the calculated encoder angle O,,,,.
with respect to errors on the quadrature signals can be evaluated
496 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 43, NO. 3, JUNE 1994

Also, from (5)-(8), we can derive the following sensitivity equations:

Assuming that the errors on the analog signals correspond to one bit
of the analog-to-digital converters, then

and

A -B - 2"-'
(18)
9 - 9-

Then from (13)-(16), we obtain AAo = AAg = AB, = AB, = 1

and finally from (1 1) and (12)
2+'4
AA = 2.w-I
~
(19)
2+B
A B = - 2"-' (20)

From (3), we can derive the sensitivity of p as follows:

and since B = CO\ q a n d d = sin p

1
A; = (sin p + cos p + sin 9 cos 9). (22)

The maximum error can be shown to occur at Q = 7r/4 which results

in
a,.=-Jz+;
2"-2 . (23)

For example, when using 12 bits of precision on the ADC and for no
other errors than the quantization process, A,- = 1.87 mrad or 3360
divisions per circle. The corresponding error on 6' is A y / k which for
the encoder used in the following experimental section is 0.00476
arcsec.

RESULTS
V. EXPERIMENTAL
Tests were conducted using a high-precision encoder with k =
Fig. 3. Flow chart for the determination of the count offset C, and the
81 000 cycles per shaft revolution. The analog signals were digitized
detection of potential data errors.
to 12 bits. Fig. 4 shows the setup used to assess the method. The
laser-tracking system shown on the right has the ability to lock its
by differentiation. If A a n d B are the offset and gain compensated laser beam onto a retroreflective target 1.
values for the quadrature signals, then The system aims a laser beam at the retroreflective target. The
optical hardware consists of a He--Ne linearly polarized laser head,
the output beam of which is turned into a circularly polarized beam
by a quarter-wave plate oriented at 45' to the beam polarization
plane. The beam is then partially transmitted through a beam splitter.
The beam splitter only transmits one state of polarization. The
beam is then repolarized circularly before being steered towards
The sensitivity of A and B , A A and A B , are functions of the errors the retroreflective target by two mirrors which are rotated by two
on the digitized signals and on the signal gains and offsets galvanometric scanners with their rotation axes orthogonal to each
AA = &(A& + A & ) + (Ad - .A,,)Ad, (1 1 )
other. One scanner moves the beam vertically, the other horizontally.
The target retroreflects the beam towards the subsystem parallel
A;
to the outgoing beam but laterally displaced by a quantity that is
B,(ABd 4- AB") + - B,)AB,
( B d
proportional to the distance between the outgoing beam and the
AB = (12)
B,2 target center. The returning beam re-enters the optical subsystem
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 43, NO. 3, JUNE 1994 491

Laser
N4 plate 2

Incident
beam to

Linear lnterferometre Scanning

- 0 7 i mirrors
0 10 20 30
Set angular position (arcsec)
t

Fig. 6. Calculated encoder angles B,,,, versus the set angular position f
h
I 1 motion. d I
for the unidirectional test.

1 .o
Fig. 4. Experimental setup based on a laser-tracking unit, a slide, and a
linear interferometer. 0.5

00

-0.5

-1 0

-1 5

-2.0
0 10 20 30 40
surtace Set angular position (arcsec)

Fig. 5. Control loop for the target-tracking action Fig. 7. Departure from the straight line for Bent versus Oset for the
unidirectional test.

following a path parallel to the outgoing beam through the optics

while preserving the tracking offset. Quarter-wave plate 1 re-polarizes The half factor is due to the reflection effect of the mirror. The error
the beam linearly so that it is now reflected towards the photodetector sensitivity AOset in rads with respect to errors A L and Ad, ford <<
L , can be shown to be given by

by the beam splitter where its 2D offset vector from the incident beam
is monitored optoelectronically. This offset is used as part of a closed-
loop circuit to adjust the mirror angular positions to bring the incident
beam closely aligned with the target center point. This principle is
illustrated in Fig. 5. Invariably some hunting of the target, even
if stationary, will occur, introducing undue variation in the mirror
angular positions. Under the test conditions, this was measured and
found to be an oscillation with a standard deviation of 0.5 arcsec.
Two tracking axes are normally necessary, one primarily for the
target's vertical motion and the other primarily for the target's
horizontal motion. For the purpose of this experiment only one was
required; the target was positioned so that the beam was very closely
aiming at the target for both tracking mirrors with their normal vectors
at 45" to the beams. At this position, there is negligible coupling
between the two axes. A vertical motion of the target was achieved
using a precision slide. The slide was aligned so that the motion
was originally perpendicular to the laser beam and perpendicular to
the mirror rotati axi responsible for the laser beam's vertical motion.
This meant that the angle needed for the tracking mirror to relock
onto the target could be calculated from the distance to the target
and the target vertical motion. The vertical motion of the target
was independently controlled via a linear interferometer monitoring a
second retroreflector attached to the slideway platform. The distance
L , traveled by the tracking beam from the first scanning mirror to the
retroreflector target, was nominally 3.0 m, and the target's vertical
motion d did not exceed 0.002 m, so that the corresponding tracking
angle was small and for no tracking error was closely given as
(1
O,, 21 t g - 1 -.
L (24)
rd
A& e -
2
-
L
+d -
L2
.
During the experiment Ad was estimated to be 1pm and random in
nature, while AL was constant and up to 5 mm. As a result, ABset
has a random error content of 0.03 arsec and an error term varying
linearly with 1 of 57d arcsec. For a maximum d of 0.002 m this is
at the most equal to 0.1 arcsec.
Three tests were conducted. Test 1 involved taking measurements
at intervals of about 1/3 arcsecond over a 35-arcsecond range. Ten
readings were taken at each position and the calculated encoder
angles O,,, averaged. Fig. 6 shows O,, versusO,,t, and Fig. 7 is
the departure from the straight line using the following fit:
= 0.20623 - 0.99919 Oset.
Oenc,lineal (26)
The combined effect of nonlinearity and averaged hunting noise and
resolution produces a rms error of 0.3 arcsecond.
Test 2 aimed at assessing any nonrepeatability due to hysteresis
effects. Measurements were made at angular intervals of about
3.5 arcseconds over a 70-arcseconds range while traveling in one
direction and then taking similar measurements retuming to the initial
position. Thirty readings were averaged at each position. Fig. 8 shows
the encoder angle O,,, versus the set angle Os,, . Fig. 9 shows O,, -
Osrt for the positive and negative directions. The difference between
the mean errors in both directions is approximately 1 arcsecond and
gives an estimate of the bidirectional hysteresis present.
The results from test 1 were further processed, this time considering
only the first sample at each position. Fig. 10 shows the A a n d B
signals for each point. It shows the good quality of the quadrature
498 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 43, NO. 3, JUNE 1994

U
- 20 12

U)

--g
01
o 0.8

ol
5 -20 04
z
f -40
01
j O0
=2
P
-60 4
-0.4
U
-
3

-80
20 40 60 80 -0.8

Set angular position (arcsec)

-1 2
Fig. 8. Calculated encoder angle Be,, versus the set angular positil -1 2 -0.8 -0 4 0.0 04 0.8 12
for the bidirectional test.
B signal

Fig. IO. Digitized ;1and B analog quadrature signals after gain and offset
-
- 2
compensation compared with the ideal unity radius circle.
J *
Positive motion
Negative motion
-Poslllve
3 ’ mean
--.Negative mean
I
P O
3
I ’
6
’20 0 20 40 60 80
n set angular position (arcsec)

Fig. 9. Bellr-Bset for the bidirectional test.

‘14
signals. Fig. 1 1 illustrates the relationship between the calculated Divide by four counter output
phase 9 and the divide-by-four counter output. It can be seen that
Fig, 11. Phase p versus the divide-by-four counter output for the first sample
a few readings have phase angles outside a single quadrant for the at each position of the unidirectional test.
same counter value. This is due to hysteresis in the counter circuitry.
A third test aimed at assessing the stability of the angular reading
in the absence of any hunting effect. This was achieved by simply ACKNOWLEDGMENT
switching the scanner drivers off. A number of sets of 100 samples
were taken for different scanner positions in order to have a file with The author wishes to thank Mr. Ian Taylor for designing and
9 S 35“ where the errors on the raw signals have the maximum implementing the electronic hardware for the signal conditioning,
effect on the calculated angle as shown in the previous section. For counting, and data acquisition of the encoder signals.
this test, the calibrated gains were A , = 1710andI3, = 1823. A
set of samples was found with a mean p = 45.8“ with the values of REFERENCES
&. B d , a n d 0 varying, due to noise, within a range of 63, 58, and
0.06 arcsecond. The standard deviations on A d , B,/. arid 0 were 12, [ I ] R. R. Mayer and G. A. Parker, “Calibration and assessment of a laser
based instrument for robot dynamic measurement,” presented at the
11, and 0.01 arcsecond, respectively. 1lth Triennal World Congress of the International Measurement Confed-
eration, Volume: Theory, Simulation, Calibration, Testing, Education.,
Houston, TX, Oct. 16-21, 1988, pp. 327-334.
VI. CONCLUSION 121 Canon Laser Rotary Encoder, Commercial Literature no. 7.5k-LRE-
A software-based method has been described that uses the output ZKG 1087.
[3] J. A. Kuzdrall, “Build an error-free encoder interface,” Elecfron.Design.
from a divide-by-four counter and the digitized analog quadrature pp. 81-86, Sept. 17, 1992.
signals to produce high-precision encoder shaft angular data. Given [4]N. Hagiwara, Y. Suzuki, and H. Murase, “A method of improving the
sufficient digitization precision, the method allows the full precision resolution and accuracy of rotary encoders using a code compensation
associated with the encoder signal quality to be exploited. Measure- technique,” IEEE Trans. Insfrumenf. Measure., vol. 41, no. I , pp.
98-101, Feb. 1992.
ments can be made at any time on an external sampling signal, making
possible simultaneous dynamic readings of multiple axes. The method
allows error flagging of conditions such as count loss or excessive lag
between counter output and encoder phase. It also allows substantial
hysteresis within the counting circuitry without precision loss. The
theoretical resolution for a 12-bit digital conversion of the analog
signals is 1/3360 of a pitch. Experimental results on an encoder built
into a laser-tracking measurement system and using 81 000 pitches
show a unidirectional rms error of 0.3 arcsecond, a mean bidirectional
hysteresis of 1 arcsecond, and a reading stability with a maximum
error range of 0.06 arcsecond.