LIMPPET - LIghtweight Miniature Precision Position Encoding Technology

该项目将指定，设计，建造和测试一种创新形式的位置和速度编码器的空间应用。其目的是利用一种新兴的地面技术，并将其用于太空。位置和速度编码器是空间设备中常见但关键的元件，但在恶劣环境中对高可靠性的要求对传统技术极具挑战性。传统的解决方案-如电位器、旋转变压器和线性变压器-对于空间应用来说要么不够可靠，要么过于笨重。LIMPPET概念提供了一种高精度、重量轻、小型化的解决方案，具有在太空极端环境中超可靠运行的潜力。LIMPPET采用创新的非接触式谐振射频传感技术，其主要组件是薄，柔性，层状基板上的印刷导体阵列。

This project will specify, design, build and test an innovative form of position & speed encoder for space applications. The aim is to take an emerging terrestrial technology and develop it for space. Position & speed encoders are common but critical elements in space equipment but the requirements for high reliability in harsh environments are extremely challenging for traditional technologies. Traditional solutions – such as potentiometers, resolvers & linear transformers – are either insufficiently reliable or too bulky and heavy for space applications. The LIMPPET concept offers a high precision, lightweight, miniaturized solution with the potential for ultra-reliable operation in space’s extreme environments. LIMPPET uses an innovative non-contact, resonant, radio-frequency sensing technique whose main components are arrays of printed conductors on thin, flexible, laminar substrates.