Open AccessLow-Noise High-Accuracy TOF Laser Range Finder
Author(s) -
Shahram Mohammad Nejad,
Saeed Olyaee
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american journal of applied sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1554-3641
pISSN - 1546-9239
DOI - 10.3844/ajassp.2008.755.762
Subject(s) - range (aeronautics) , noise (video) , laser , artificial intelligence , acoustics , computer science , computer vision , engineering , optics , physics , aerospace engineering , image (mathematics)
This paper presents a new low-noise high-accuracy laser range finder based on the Time-Of-Flight (TOF) method. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm as a source and a SLIK avalanche photodiode as a detector are used. The optical section of the system including ZnS/MgF2 optical filter, designed by C++ and Zemax software, has been successfully implemented and tested. The quality factor of the optical filter is obtained about 2.53. Using the 1.5 MW Nd:YAG laser, the lowest detectable optical power is limited to about 8.14 nW. The absolute range finding error in the range of 0.3-20 km is also measured as δr= ± 50 cm. Furthermore, the sampling rate of the distance measurement can be adjusted between 1 and 20 samples per second