Estimation of quantization steps of time interpolator in view of temperature changes

摘要

This paper presents a method of limiting the effect of ambient temperature drift on the measurement uncertainty of a time counter (TC). A change in amhient temperature causes a change in the TC transfer function, i.e. the widths of quantization steps to be exact. Recalibration is a procedure that is then required, but it disturbs the measurement process. However, with the knowledge of the current ambient temperature and having the set of transfer functions identified at different temperatures, it is possible to determine and use the most adequate transfer function and virtually eliminate the temperature impact. For this purpose, three interpolation methods were studied: the nearest neighbor method, linear and polynomial interpolations. A newly evaluated transfer functions were tested in interpolating TC to select the best interpolation method.