Title :
A new approach to avoid walk error in pulsed laser rangefinding
Author :
Palojärvi, Pasi ; Ruotsalainen, Tarmo ; Kostamovaara, Juha
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Oulu Univ., Finland
Abstract :
In this paper a new way to combine timing discrimination and time interval measurement in pulsed laser rangefinding is presented. The aim is to eliminate the dependency of amplitude from the timing result, i.e. walk error. The idea is based on a time-to-amplitude converter where the input transistors are used as “soft switches” by controlling them with an analog input signal. The principle of the operation has been presented together with measurement results of a test circuit implemented in a 0.8 μm BiCMOS process. A measured walk error of ±3.5 ps has been achieved with the input signal dynamic range of 1:19
Keywords :
BiCMOS analogue integrated circuits; convertors; laser ranging; measurement errors; time measurement; timing; 0.8 micron; BiCMOS process; analog input signal; input signal dynamic range; input transistors; pulsed laser rangefinding; soft switches; test circuit; time interval measurement; time-to-amplitude converter; timing discrimination; timing result; walk error; Circuit testing; Delay; Logic; Optical filters; Optical pulses; Optical receivers; Pulse amplifiers; Pulse measurements; Time measurement; Timing;
Conference_Titel :
Circuits and Systems, 1999. ISCAS '99. Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Orlando, FL
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5471-0
DOI :
10.1109/ISCAS.1999.777852
