meal, repast(noun) the food served and eaten at one time. meal(noun) any of the occasions for eating food that occur by custom or habit at more or less fixed times. meal(noun) coarsely ground foodstuff; especially seeds of various cereal grasses or pulse.
An encoder is a sensor of mechanical motion that generates digital signals in response to motion. As an electro-mechanical device, an encoder is able to provide motion control system users with information concerning position, velocity and direction. There are two different types of encoders: linear and rotary.
Commutation encoders utilize a transparent disk which includes opaque sections that are equally spaced to determine movement. A light emitting diode is used to pass through the glass disk and is detected by a photo detector. This causes the encoder to generate a train of equally spaced pulses as it rotates.