Time Discriminating Design for High Precision Pulsed TOF Laser Rangefinder

Abstract:

The purpose of a time discriminator is to decide when the input is something you are interested in. It does this by putting out a logic pulse when the input signal meets an adjustable threshold value. A low cost high performance constant fraction discriminator (CFD) for laser rangefinder using pulsed TOF (time of flight) is proposed with the accuracy been improved. The theory of CFD is deduced and discussed and a distance measuring system has been established and experimental evidence is presented to show the feasibility of solving the time walking error problem to amend the precision and improving the environmental applicability, the distance error of +/-0.5mm was observed in the lab condition. The advantages of this instrument are highlighted and the experimental results are presented.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volumes 105-107)
• Pages: 1951-1956
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.105-107.1951
• Online since: September 2011
• Authors: Dong Qing Shen, Jian Yong Chen, Wan Cai Li, Hong Jiang, Zhen Yu Li
• Keywords: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Time Discriminating, TOF Rangefinder, Walking Error

References

[1] Määttä K, Kostamovaara J. A High-Precision Time-to-Digital Converter for Pulsed Time-of-Flight Laser Radar Applications. IEEE Transactions on Instru & Meas, Vol. 47, No. 2 (1998), pp.521-536.

DOI: 10.1109/19.744201

[2] M. Salerno et al. A New Laser Technology for Air Traffic Management Sensors and Microsystems: AISEM 2009 Proceedings, pp.299-302.

[3] Strand T.C. Optical three-dimensional sensing for machine vision. Optical Engineering, Vol. 24 (1985), pp.33-40.

[4] Ammon G., Russell S. A Laser Tracking and Ranging System. Applied Optics, Vol. 9, No. 10(1970), pp.2256-2259.

[5] Tilleman M. M., Krishnaswami K. K., Design of fibre optic relayed laser radar. Opt. Eng. Vol. 35(11) (1996), pp.3279-3284.

DOI: 10.1117/1.601068

[6] M. L. Simpson and M. J. Paulus, ''Discriminator design considerations for time-interval measurement circuits in collider detector systems,'' IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 45 (1998), 98–104.

DOI: 10.1109/23.659559

[7] P. Paloja¨rvi, T. Ruotsalainen, and J. Kostamovaara, ''A new approach to avoid walk error in pulsed laser rangefinding,'' IEEE Intern. Symp. Circ. System (1999), p.258–261.

DOI: 10.1109/iscas.1999.777852

[8] Arie F. Arbel, "Analog Signal Processing and Instrumentation", Cambridge University Press (1980) pp.172-176.