Incremental encoder designed to provide instantaneous information on the position of a rotating shaft by producing one square wave cycle per increment of shaft movement. This increment is referred to as the encoder’s resolution and is built directly into the device’s internal hardware on the code disc. By rotating this code disc in the path of a light source, it acts like a shutter and alternately shuts off or transmits the light to a photodetector. By counting this number of cycles, you can tell the position of the shaft relative to its starting position.
