High speed sector scanning apparatus having digital electronic control

A high speed sector scanning apparatus having digital control, comprising:

• a frame;
• a rocker mounted on an axle near a first end of said frame, and being adapted for oscillatory movement about a rocker axis defined by said axle through a range of up to 180°;
• a first permanent magnet mounted at the end of said rocker remote from the first end of said frame so as to define a locus which is located in a plane swept by said permanent magnet during oscillatory movement of said rocker;
• at least two electromagnets, each comprising coiled wire wound on an elongated magnetic core, said at least two electromagnets being mounted in said plane swept by said first permanent magnet, each of said at least two electromagnets being constructed so as to have a first end of the magnetic core thereof extending towards said locus defined by said first permanent magnet, whereby magnetic field reaction occurs between said first permanent magnet and at least one of said at least two electromagnets when electric power is selectively applied to said at least one electromagnet at any instant in time;
• a flux return path mounted in said frame and magnetically connected to the ends of said at least two electromagnets;
• digital electrical control means for selectively applying electric power to at least one electromagnet at any instant in time and for sequentially applying electric power to others of said at least two electromagnets over a period of time, whereby magnetic field reaction sequentially occurs between said first permanent magnet and a selected at least one electromagnet so as to cause oscillatory movement of said rocker about said rocker axis as said first permanent magnet moves in said defined locus in said swept plane;
• a source of high frequency energy physically mounted so as to interact with said rocker so that energy is transmitted away from said rocker along a transmission axis of said rocker which is orthogonal to said rocker axis;
• and
• a detector physically mounted so as to interact with said rocker and so as to detect and receive reflected frequency high energy at the same frequency as the energy from said source, when said reflected high frequency energy is reflected back to said apparatus from an object being scanned thereby.