ELECTRO-OPTIC TIME-OF-FLIGHT DISTANCE METER HAVING A RECEIVER CHAIN

• Main Authors: ROHNER, Marcel, BESTLER, Simon
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 02.08.2023
• Subjects: ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; TESTING

An electro-optic distance meter according to the time-of-flight principle with a receiver chain for generating a digital signal from a received light pulse, the receiver chain comprising a photodetector, a first gain stage, in particular a transimpedance amplifier or a current-mode electronic, for converting an input current from the photodetector associated to the returned light pulse into an output voltage, a filter and an analog-to-digital converter, whereby the digital signal provides an unambiguous relationship between intensity-time delay of the optical pulse and signalshape-time delay of the electrical signal, wherefore the photodetector, the first gain stage and the analog-to-digital converter are adapted to each other such that the analog-to-digital converter -and any other receiver chain element following the filter if present- remains unclipped in a linear operating range even when the first gain stage shows a non-linear time-invariant response or a well-defined time-invariant saturation response to the input current of the photodetector.