Examples
Moon-tracking laser pointer: a pan/tilt mount that finds the moon on its own
GNSS for position and time, an on-device ephemeris, two stepper axes and a class-2 laser — with the red team making sure the beam never becomes a hazard.
- 3 creditsdesign cost
- 41BOM lines
- € 186parts, incl. shipping
- 14 daysidea to delivery
- 4red-team findings fixed
The idea
A desk-top device that knows where it is and what time it is, computes the moon’s azimuth and elevation, and points a laser at it — a teaching tool for astronomy evenings and a test bed for precise two-axis motion.
What Daedalus produced
Electronics
Controller PCBA: ESP32, GNSS with PPS, two stepper drivers, laser driver with hardware enable
Firmware
Ephemeris, homing, landmark calibration and a safety state machine
Mechanics
Pan/tilt gimbal: CNC aluminium base, printed yoke, belt reduction
Calculations
Pointing error budget, motor torque, laser power at the aperture
BOM
41 lines, steppers and laser module as off-the-shelf parts
Order package
JLCPCB board, PCBWay CNC base, printed parts
What the red team found
Laser module above class 2
The first module choice could exceed 1 mW. Fixed: class-2 module with a datasheet power limit and a current-limited driver.
Compass heading too inaccurate
A magnetometer gave several degrees of error indoors. Fixed: calibration on a known landmark or star.
Beam can sweep across windows or aircraft
Fixed: minimum elevation of 10°, laser off while the mount moves, and a key switch to arm the laser.
Build it yourself
Start from this template and change the payload: a camera instead of a laser, a different gimbal size, or tracking the ISS instead of the moon. Daedalus updates the torque calculation, the BOM and the safety checks.
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