title: A photon-counting time-of-flight ranging technique developed for the avoidance of range ambiguity at gigahertz clock rates.
abstract: This paper describes a rapid data acquisition photon-counting time-of-flight ranging technique that is designed for the avoidance of range ambiguity, an issue commonly found in high repetition frequency time-off-light systems. The technique transmits a non-periodic pulse train based on the random bin filling of a high frequency time clock. A received pattern is formed from the arrival times of the returning single photons and the correlation between the transmitted and received patterns was used to identify the unique target time-of-flight. The paper describes experiments in laboratory and in free space at over several hundred meters range at clock frequencies of 1GHz. Unambiguous photon-counting range-finding is demonstrated with centimeter accuracy.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh, UK. philip.hiskett@selex-sas.com
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Hiskett
authors.forename: Colin S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Parry
authors.forename: Aongus
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Gerald S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Buller
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010783:Photometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017785:Photons; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*