Systems and methods for weighted combination of quadrant photodetector output for beam tracking

A method comprising:

• receiving, by an optical element, an optical beam;
• receiving, from the optical element by a wide FOV quadrant photodetector, first light originating from the optical beam;
• receiving, from the optical element by a narrow FOV quadrant photodetector, second light originating from the optical beam;
• and
• controlling, by a controller, an orientation of the optical element in a manner that tracks the optical beam during at least a period of time based on a weighted combination of:
• output of the wide FOV quadrant photodetector in response to the first light;
• and
• output of the narrow FOV quadrant photodetector in response to the second light.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:

• computer-readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:
• receive an output from a wide FOV quadrant photodetector generated in response to receiving first light originating from an optical beam provided by an optical element;
• receive an output from a narrow FOV quadrant photodetector generated in response to receiving second light originating from the optical beam;
• and
• control an orientation of the optical element in a manner that tracks the optical beam during at least a period of time based on a weighted combination of:
• the output received from the wide FOV quadrant photodetector;
• and
• the output received from the narrow FOV quadrant photodetector.