Signal Processing In The Semiconductor Laser Rangefinder

The LD rangefinder has many characteristics, such as simple construction, small size, Light weight, and so on. It has some advantages in applications of short and middle range measurement. At present, the maximum measure range overruns 10km, and the minimum resolution is about several centimeters. The research on LD rangefinder started in 1960's and in the middle of 1980's as eras of key techniques had been solved. In the middle of 1990's some kinds of product had been developed. It can be expected that in near future the number of the product will increase rapidly in very wide areas.First, this paper introduces the LD rangefinder's research situation of domestic and abroad at present, and describes the development and application prospect, furthermore, it expatiate the system architecture, the main technical characters and the principle .Second, the paper particularly introduces the scheme of signal processing in LD rangefinder. The measurement of time alternation in the project is a keystone, which concerns the measurement precision of LD rangefinder system, using the TDC-GPX chip which is the Germany ACAM Company's new generation time alteration measurement chip as the time alternation measurement module, this paper describes the time measurement principle of TDC-GPX and the implemental methods both in the hardware and software of LD rangefinder.