A wide dynamic range receiver channel for a pulsed time-of-flightlaser radar

摘要

An integrated receiver channel for a pulsed time-of-flight (TOF)nlaser rangefinder has been designed and tested. The bandwidth of thenreceiver channel is 170 MHz, the transimpedance can be controlled in thenrange from 1.1 kΩ to 260 kΩ, and the input-referred noise isn~6 pA/√Hz. The distance measurement accuracy is ±4.7 mmn(average of 10000 measurements), taking into account walk error (inputnsignal amplitude varies in the range 1:624) and jitter. A considerablenincrease in the input dynamic range of the receiver has been achieved bynplacing an integrated current buffer with variable attenuation betweennthe external photodetector and the transimpedance preamplifier.nIntegrated electronic gain control structures together with the smallnsize and low power consumption achieved by the use of full customnintegrated technology considerably simplifies rangefinding devices fornmany applications. The circuit was implemented in an 0.8-Μm BiCMOSnprocess