Electro-optical sun compass with a very high degree of accuracy

Opt Lett. 2015 Aug 1;40(15):3619-22. doi: 10.1364/OL.40.003619.

Abstract

We present a novel electro-optical solar compass that is able to determine the true North direction with an accuracy better than 1/100 of degree, superior to that of any other magnetic or electronic compass that does not resort to differential GPS. The compass has an electronic sensor to determine the line of sight of the Sun and a simple but effective algorithm to calculate the position of the Sun. The excellent results obtained during the experimental tests demonstrate the advantages of this compass, which is also compact and not expensive.