NSS CubeSat Sun Sensor

The CubeSat sun sensor determines the spacecraft body angles with respect to the sun. The sensor is extremely small and light to minimise the demands on nano-spacecraft. The sensor achieves much higher measurement accuracy than traditional photodiode cosine sensors.
The sensor consists of a CMOS PSD detector sitting behind a small pin-hole with a field of view of +/- 57 degrees. The device produces four analogue voltages that are dependant on the incident angle of sunlight in the horizontal and vertical directions. Each sensor is supplied with a calibration algorithm that calculates the sun vector from these four voltages to an accuracy of +/-0.5 degrees.