Systems and methods for high-precision length measurement
AssigneeUniversity of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorPeter J. Delfyett
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided are systems and methods for performing high-precision length measurement. One such system includes: an optical receiver, configure to receive a reflected optical pulse from a target; an optical combiner, configured to generate a combined optical pulse using the reflected optical pulse and a reference optical pulse; and a signal analyzer configured to determine a distance to the target using a depth of modulation value of the combined signal. A method as disclosed herein includes the steps of determining a first length component of a combined optical signal using a depth of modulation value and determining a second length component of the combined optical signal using a modulation period value.
Claims15
A method for providing high-precision length measurement, the method comprising:
- generating optical pulses;
- splitting the optical pulses into reference pulses and transmit pulses;
- transmitting the transmit pulses towards a target;
- receiving reflected pulses from the target;
- combining the reflected pulses and the reference pulses into a combined optical signal;
- determining a depth of modulation of the combined optical signal to determine a time of flight of the transmit pulses and the reflected pulses;
- determining a first length component from the determined time of flight;
- determining a modulation period of the combined optical signal to determine a fractional delay between a reflected pulse and a reference pulse;
- determining a second length component from the determined fractional delay;
- and
- summing the first and second length components to calculate the length measurement.
A system for providing high-precision length measurement in response to received optical pulses, the system comprising:
- an optical receiver configured to receive reflected optical pulses from a target;
- an optical combiner configured to generate a combined optical signal using the reflected optical pulses and received reference optical pulses;
- and
- a signal analyzer configured to determine a distance to the target by:
- determining a depth of modulation of the combined optical signal to determine a first length component;
- determining a period of modulation of the combined optical signal to determine a second length component;
- and
- summing the first and second length components to calculate the length measurement.
A method for providing high-precision length measurement, the method comprising:
- determining a first length component of a combined optical signal by using a depth of modulation value of the combined optical signal to determine a time of flight indicative of the first length component;
- determining a second length component of the combined optical signal by using a modulation period value of the combined optical signal to determine a fractional delay between a reflected pulse and a reference pulse indicative of the second length component;
- and
- summing the first and second length components to calculate the length measurement.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.