Photodiode Array for Detecting Laser Pointer Applied in Shooting Simulator

This paper presents the application of photodiode array for detecting laser pointing in the shooting simulator. The photodiodes are arranged in circular pattern similar to the conventional shooting target. To minimize the cost, the scanning and multiplexing techniques are employed to access the photodiode array. A low-cost 8-bit microcontroller system is used to calculate the shooting position, display it to the seven-segment display, and send the data to a computer. To overcome the problem of varying lighting conditions, an adaptive voltage reference is introduced. Experimental results shows that the proposed system work properly to detect the laser shooting in indoor and outdoor environments with the effective shooting distance of 10 to 20 meter and the lighting intensity below than 5000 Lux. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]