Sensors and instruments used to detect rotary position, angular position, tilt, or inclination relative to the horizon or a linear position.
Orientation Position Sensing Categories
Absolute Rotary Encoders (299 suppliers)
Absolute rotary encoders use optical, mechanical, or magnetic indexing for angular measurement. They do not lose their position after power-down, but instead provide absolute position upon power-up without requiring a home cycle or any shaft rotation.
Compasses (53 suppliers)
Compasses are navigational instruments that determine direction relative to Earth’s magnetic poles.
Gyroscopes (79 suppliers)
Gyroscopes are designed to measure angular rate or orientation about a given directional vector.
Incremental Rotary Encoders (383 suppliers)
Incremental rotary encoders are multi-turn sensors that use optical, mechanical, or magnetic index-counting for angular measurement. They contain no absolute reference, but instead count relative to the turn-on position.
Inertial Navigation Systems (80 suppliers)
Inertial navigation systems use a combination of accelerometers and angular rate sensors (gyroscopes) to detect altitude, location, and motion. They may also be capable of detecting attitude, position, velocity, temperature, or magnetic field.
Linear Encoders (270 suppliers)
Linear encoders sense and digitize linear position change for positional measurement and feedback to control systems.
Optical Encoder Disks and Strips (21 suppliers)
Optical encoder disks and strips are components of rotary and linear encoders, respectively. They are usually made of metal, plastic, glass, or paper. Optical encoder disks and strips have evenly-spaced holes or markings around their perimeter or length.
Rotary Position Sensors (215 suppliers)
Rotary position sensors include potentiometers, resolvers and a variety of magnetic and capacitive technologies. Sensors are designed for angular displacement less than one turn or for multiturn displacement.
Tilt Sensors (153 suppliers)
Tilt sensors measure tilt angle with reference to the earth’s ground plane.
