The Laser Ranging System Based On Narrow Pulse High Power Semiconductor Laser

Pulsed laser ranging is a technique based on the pulsed laser sources. The keyof the pulsed laser ranging is accurate determination the roundtrip time of flight.The pulse width of the laser is one of the important factors which influence themeasurement resolution. How to transmit pulses with narrow width is pivotal toimprove the range resolution in the laser ranging system. In order to enlarge therange of the measurement, the pulses must be produced with energy as high aspossible. The cost of the saled pulsed laser ranging system is very expensive. Thus,the pulsed ranging system with high resolution, large measurement range and lowcost has extensive applications in civil field.In this paper, some theories about laser ranging system and the key techniquehave been studied. Firstly, a nanosecond pulse laser diode driver for short pulse andhigh energy laser ranging system has been designed to shorten the pulse width ofthe laser and extend the peak power. Based on the driver, a good quality pulse laserdiode and an optical system, the transmit part has been developed. According to thefeatures of the transmitter, the receiver and processing unit has been designed. Thereturned signal carrying the range information can be received and extractedeffectively. Experiments based on the designed pulse laser ranging system havebeen carried on. The results show that the pulsed laser ranging system designed inthis paper is feasible.