SENSOR SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

A rangefinding sensor system is described in which laser pulses are derived from a pulsed laser which produces a pulse train at a constant repetition frequency. The range to an object is determined by measuring the degree of temporal correlation between the emitted pulse and the detection of a single photon in the returned (reflected) pulse. The accuracy of the range is therefore determined to a value within a limit set by the repetition frequency. The absolute range can only be determined by counting the number of pulses which corresponds to an integer multiple of 1/f, where f is the repetition frequency.