An analysis of the accuracy of time-of-flight ranging at very low signal levels

Abstract

A study is made of the statistical distribution of data in pulsed laser ranging arising from random fluctuations in the return signal and the accumulation of jitter in the timing measurements. Signal detection by leading edge discrimination and pulse reconstruction techniques is considered in single-shot and multi-shot applications. Consideration is given to the possibility of using different methods of data analysis to reduce the final error in multi-shot experiments.